


And They Were Neighbours

by deadbyhead



Category: Gintama
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Drinking, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Hickeys, M/M, Minor Character(s), Minor Violence, Neighbours, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Paako makes an appearance, Smoking, Smut, Swearing, and in takasugi’s mouth heyooo, but takasugi is even a bigger shit, gin tiddies on my mind, gintoki is a lil shit, idk what/how to tag SORRY, it’s my fic i will make hijikata blush as many times as i want and no one can stop me, okita mitsuba (mentioned) - Freeform, somebody hold hijikata pls :(, tbh i have no idea where this plot is headed pls bear with me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:02:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27346273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadbyhead/pseuds/deadbyhead
Summary: Tilting his head upwards, Takasugi allows the cigarette smoke to flee his lungs. “She’s not my woman by the way. We’re just sex friends,” He pauses to inhale and exhale again, “I can lend her to you, Hijikata. I haven’t heard anything from your apartment since you’re moved here.”A moment passes.Wh-What the fuck did he just say?---Hijikata and Takasugi are neighbours who often catch one another smoking on the balcony. Takasugi and Gintoki are sex friends. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Hijikata Toshirou/Sakata Gintoki, Sakata Gintoki/Takasugi Shinsuke
Comments: 64
Kudos: 95





	1. Seriously, He's Insane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> got this fic idea at 2am and it ended up being a 4.6k fic a ha ha,,.,,  
> pls envision that there’s no wall between the balconies and that they’re relatively close to one another i did not realize that irl balconies are far apart and typically have a wall in between until like halfway through writing this ahdjks  
> hope u enjoy reading this as much as i did writing this !!

The wooden front door hinges creak as Hijikata enters his one-bedroom apartment. The warmth radiating through his apartment instantly hits his body, causing Hijikata to unconsciously rub his calloused hands together to create friction. He sighs, taking off his work shoes to leave by the entrance. His necktie is loosened as he walks toward the kitchen chair. As Hijikata slumps against the back of the chair, the worries from his everyday life slide off his broad shoulders. Closing his eyes, Hijikata hears various noises occurring in his apartment: the plips of water dripping from his leaky kitchen faucet, the soft humming of the heater he forgot to turn off before leaving for work, and the ticking noises from the anchored clock. He takes in a deep breath. _It reeks of cigarettes, I should air it out_. His ocean-coloured eyes dart upwards to the mounted clock he has on the kitchen wall. 10:52 p.m. _Right on time._ Pushing himself off the old, wooden chair, Hijikata walks towards his tiny bedroom to change out of his police uniform. His bedroom is relatively clean albeit the few empty mayonnaise bottles littering across the floor. There’s a poster hanging above his bed of “My Neighbor Pedoro”, a movie he loved during his college years but viewing it now, Hijikata feels impartial. _Should I take that down?_ He thinks, before deciding it’s too much of a hassle to do so. _Not like there’s anyone that will see this except for me._

Hijikata reaches into his pantsuit and pulls out a pack of Mayaboro and a lighter shaped like a mayonnaise bottle that he received as a gift from his long-time friend and coworker for his most recent birthday, Kondou. He gently places the two items onto the white nightstand beside his queen-sized bed before turning to the laundry basket hidden away in the corner of his room. As Hijikata rummages through his clothing, a loud slam can be heard on the left side of his apartment which causes Hijikata to jerk his head towards the sound of the noise. _Ah, the bastard is home._ He can just make out two distinct voices in his neighbor’s apartment that appear to be raising in volume. _Not my business._ Paying no attention to the aforementioned noises, Hijikata continues to search through his dirty laundry, finding seemingly a clean black hoodie and a pair of grey sweatpants that are covered in a few grease stains. _Fuck, I have to do laundry soon. I have only three pairs of underwear left but I work the grave shifts for the next five days. Shit._ He weaves his fingers through his jet-black locks, sighing as he tries to figure out when he has free time this week. I’m sure the middle-aged woman living across from me would be more than willing to say yes if I ask if it’s okay to throw in some of my clothes with hers. Hijikata pauses, quickly disregarding this idea. He doesn’t like taking advantage of other people’s feelings for his own accord.

The items of clothing Hijikata grabbed are slightly balled up on his lap as he sinks into the mattress. As he starts to absentmindedly change his outfit, another loud slam from his neighbor’s side can be heard. If he squinted hard enough he could see the wall shared between the two vibrate from the sheer force of the front door shutting. Hijikata has learned to not ask questions about his neighbor Takasugi - a doctor at best, a shady conman at worst. Takasugi’s reputation does not phase Hijikata however, as long as he keeps supplying him with cigarettes it’s all turned heads and averted eyes despite his work in the line of the law. Hijikata knows he isn’t perfect but whatever, free cigarettes.

The bed frame makes a small creaking noise as he hoists himself off the mattress. Hijikata swiftly grabs the lighter left on the nightstand and pockets it, trotting out of his room and heads towards the balcony. He flips the lightswitch in front of the balcony doors upwards. The balcony light flickers for a few seconds before coming on, shining onto the furniture he has stored outside. Sliding the door open, the cool autumn breeze hits against his exposed skin, sending a shiver down his spine. He walks further in and leans against the ledge that is facing the street.

The street light illuminates onto a woman scolding a young boy while he is rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of a jacket. Hijikata peers closer, taking note of the dropped takoyaki to the side of the pair. The boy starts to cry louder until the woman tugs him closer, muffling the boy’s cries with the front of her parka. After several back rubs and head pats, the boy seemingly calms down and pulls away from the woman. She says something inaudible but it seems to instantly cheer the boy up as he gleams and takes the woman’s hand into his own and starts to tug her away from the takoyaki.

A couple turns the corner and Hijikata’s attention is instantly stolen by them. Their boisterous laughs can be heard from where Hijikata is standing. The man is swinging their connected arms back and forth with such strength Hijikata would be worried if not for the clear joy beaming off the woman’s face. Abruptly, the man stops in his tracks and pulls the woman close for an embrace. The broad shoulders hide the woman’s petite stature from Hijikata but he doesn’t mind at all. For what feels like hours, the man finally pulls himself off the woman, their hands seamlessly finding their way to one another. A few quiet moments pass as they stare into each other’s eyes before the woman whispers something into the man’s ear. The man proceeds to grab the woman by the waist and hoist her off the floor, swinging her whole body side to side. She smacks her manicured hands against the man’s chest until he lets go, planting a kiss on her cheek as her heels hit the ground. Hijikata suddenly feels intrusive - he realizes that that was a private moment meant to be shared only between two lovers, and not with a weirdo watching on the sidelines like it was a scene taken straight out of a romance movie. The sound of laughter gets quieter and quieter as the couple continues to walk down the street.

Hijikata would never admit it out loud but he felt a twinge of loneliness settle deep inside his heart whilst staring at the pedestrians. It’s okay, he reminds himself. It’s okay to be alone. It’s okay to not be in a relationship. He’s okay.

Hijikata’s not entirely sure how long he was staring out onto the street below, but his attention was interrupted by the sound of a sliding door. The light from his neighbor’s balcony hit the corner of Hijikata’s eyes. Without taking his gaze off the people passing by, he outwardly stretches his arm towards the source of the noise. A few moments of silence passed as the only sound heard was his own breathing. A disgruntled scoff breaks the silence and Hijikata’s palm is weighted down by a small, earthy item. Retracting his arm, Hijikata slips the lightweight object between his chapped lips. Hijikata pulls out the mayonnaise-shaped light from his pocket. The lighter sparks a few times before its flame is brought near Hijikata’s face, highlighting his sharp features. He inhales a few quick breaths until the tip of the cigarette is well lit. Drawing a long inhale, Hijikata holds it for a brief moment before exhaling, the cigarette smoke mixing with the dark night sky. Hijikata shuts his eyes, feeling the ends of his eyelashes softly touch his cheeks. The worries of his day dissipate away, mimicking the cigarette smoke.

“Not a single acknowledgment of my presence after leeching off of me again?”

Hijikata’s peaceful face is quickly replaced with an annoyed one at that single sentence spoken. He pulls the slightly damp cigarette out of his mouth and holds it between his jagged knuckles, tapping off the built-up ashes on the circular ashtray on top of the ledge.

“It was your turn today, greedy bastard,” Hijikata says as he brings the cigarette back to his lips.

He inhales.

“You don’t deserve a greeting anyways.”

He exhales.

A low chuckle escapes from his neighbor’s lips. Hijikata finally glances in Takasugi’s direction, staring at his laughing face.

“You got that right,” Takasugi mutters, bringing the lit cigarette to his lips. Hijikata observes Takasugi’s movements: his head slightly tilted upwards, his right eye shut closed, his bare chest (how is he not freezing?) rising up and down, fingers slightly trembling as they linger around his mouth. As Takasugi turns away from Hijikata, Hijikata notices a few oddities about his body. There are small bruises lining his neck, scratch marks down his back, and visible teeth indents on his shoulders.

_Oh._

Hijikata feels his face redden at this realization and turns away as well. He doesn’t like to think of himself as a prude, especially since he’s been living beside Takasugi for a couple of years now. His neighbor has had many girls over in his apartment throughout Hijikata’s residency, often meeting them on the balcony as Hijikata does his morning smoke. There has been a couple of men too, but Hijikata doesn’t judge. They’re the ones who typically ask for his number but like always, he respectively declines. Suddenly, the various noises heard from the other side of the shared wall last night intrusively plays in Hijikata’s mind, causing his face to raise a few degrees. Flustered, Hijikata brings the cigarette to his lips for a long drag, running his other hand through his plentiful black hair.

“Oi.”

Hijikata lets the cloud of smoke escape through his clenched teeth.

“Can you tell your woman to keep it down while you two have sex? This one is insanely loud.”

Hijikata slightly tilts his head to look at Takasugi again. He notes how Takasugi’s body stiffens for a mere moment, causing Hijikata to feel a ball of anxiety fall into his stomach. _Shit, did I step over the line?_ He holds his breath, not daring to break the thick tension between the two. The sudden outburst of laughter from Takasugi’s small stature slices through the tension, instantly relieving Hijikata of any lingering anxiety.

However, that feeling of relief is quickly replaced with irritation due to Takasugi’s non-stop snickering. There’s a tinge of satisfaction as Takasugi’s laughter turns to a coughing fit, causing him to double over. “It’s not a joke, it’s a serious request, you bastard,” Hijikata barks out, ashamed that he was embarrassed over this topic in the first place. He takes another drag from the cigarette as Takasugi recovers from his violent cough and looks up at Hijikata, dark forest green piercing through ocean blue. A large smile spreads across the man’s face. Hijikata freezes. In the entirety of knowing Takasugi, Hijikata has never seen him sport a smile so wide before. It honestly scares him a little.

“Of course, of course, I’ll tell her to tone it down, officer,” Takasugi laughs again, breathing in the cigarette settled between his knuckles. Tilting his head upwards, Takasugi allows the cigarette smoke to flee his lungs. “She’s not my woman by the way. We’re just sex friends,” He pauses to inhale and exhale again, “I can lend her to you, Hijikata. I haven’t heard anything from your apartment since you’re moved here.”

A moment passes.

 _Wh-What the fuck did he just say?_ As he processes this information, Hijikata chokes on the smoke he inhaled prior, face beet red from both circumstances. When he recovers, Hijikata holds his head in his rough palms, too embarrassed to reveal how he looks at the moment. The cool air tickles his red-tipped ears. “You crazy one-eyed motherfucker,” Hijikata mutters into his hands. Takasugi simply chuckled again as he squished the cigarette bud into his ashtray.

“I’m serious about my offer, Hijikata. Don’t act like a stranger now, just ask. I’m sure she would be more than happy to service a police officer of such stature,” Takasugi smirks at Hijikata’s covered face. “See you later, Hijikata,” Takasugi sing-songs. He slides open the balcony door and walks inside, turning the lights off and leaving Hijikata all alone. Finally lifting his head up from his hands, Hijikata notices the numbness in his fingertips. Trying to tighten his fists, another gust of wind hits Hijikata’s exposed skin, sending shivers down his body. He decides to give up and call it for the night. As Hijikata crushes the cigarette bud onto the ashtray, the conversation with Takasugi replays in his head.

“Seriously, he’s insane,” Hijikata huffs out to no one in particular.

* * *

**Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.**

The digital alarm clock on top of Hijikata’s nightstand reads 8:00a.m, ringing to wake Hijikata up. It doesn’t work, however, as he has already been awake for the past couple of hours. Hijikata couldn’t get a wink of sleep last night - his mind continuously drifting back to the conversation shared with Takasugi whenever he closes his eyes. The alarm continued to ring in Hijikata’s ears but he couldn’t be bothered to stop the blaring noise, staring at the dangling light strings of the ceiling fan above him. _Do I seem so lonely that Takasugi felt the need to offer his woman to me?_ He rubs his eyes, the collected eye crust in the corners tumbles off. Hijikata doesn’t need a handout; he has had many opportunities to sleep with women. However, Hijikata realized overtime that sex won’t fill the empty void he has in his heart. His thoughts then shift to the one person he has ever loved, Okita Mitsuba.

The two had a complicated history - they were never officially together but the chemistry was there. Years of lingering eye contact and prolonged touches whipped away when he joined the police force with her little brother. Hijikata thought it would be best to stop whatever they had between them for the sake of Mitsuba’s declining health and happiness. Having to worry about whether he will come back home every single time he left for work, Hijikata wouldn’t allow himself to put that amount of stress on Mitsuba, no matter how much she cried telling him the complete opposite. His hands shake slightly as he brings them towards him, softly massaging his face. He knows his biggest fault is his stubbornness - that’s what makes him the man he is today.

He takes in a deep breath.

They were young; she would find another man that would make her truly happy. That's the least she deserves in a partner - a partner that isn’t him. His decision is completely justified.

_Shit._

Hijikata groans, lightly smacking his cheeks to try to distract himself from thinking further on the sensitive topic. Exhaling through his teeth, Hijikata decides he needs a smoke. An arm is extended out of the cozy blanket and smashes the alarm button, effectively stopping (and breaking) the alarm clock from ringing. A sigh leaves Hijikata’s lips as the blanket is tossed off his body. The warm air radiating off the heater hits against Hijikata’s naked torso as he fixes the bedsheet and blanket. Grabbing the black hoodie he wore last night, Hijkata throws it over his head and slips the pack of Mayaboro left on his nightstand into his pocket. Walking out of the bedroom, Hijikata headed towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water before going out on his balcony for a smoke.

It’s colder this morning compared to last night. Hijikata hugs his body to try conserving his body heat. Sounds of birds chirping are heard across the neighborhood as he pulls out a cigarette and ignites the tip. A few quick puffs are taken before Hijikata pulls a long drag, feeling the nicotine travel through his bloodstream. As Hijikata continues to smoke, he peers down onto the street, noticing a man with wine-coloured hair emerge from the apartment lobby. _He must be going to work now._ Hijikata averts his eyes to stare at anything else but Takasugi. He doesn’t think he can stand the sight of his neighbour at this moment. After a few minutes, Hijikata squishes the cigarette bud under his slipper and walks back into his warm apartment.

* * *

Hijikata feels restless as the hours roll by. The sun rays shine through the glass sliding door, highlighting the specks of dust floating in his apartment. The sounds from the show playing on the TV fill the living room as Hijikata tiredly slurps on a mayonnaise bottle on the couch. He’s itching for another smoke. Glancing at the clock, he reads 4:43 p.m. His night shift starts in a couple of hours, Hijikata can try to sneak in a nap before he leaves for work. He empties the rest of the mayonnaise bottle into his mouth and throws the container in a garbage bag sitting by his front door that is filled with other hollowed out bottles.

Hijikata throws over his body a black jacket with gold trimmings lining it and gold-coloured square loops that travel all the way down the jacket. _This should keep me warm._ The balcony door gets stuck halfway through upon opening, causing Hijikata to forcefully tug on it. It creates a rowdy bang as he uses a little too much strength. Luckily, the door is still intact. He doesn’t think he can afford to pay for a new door. Stepping out onto his balcony, Hijikata brings a hand over his eyes to cover them from the direct sunlight. As Hijikata glances downwards onto the street, he spots an out-of-place grey Vespa parked along the other side of the street. None of the residents in the apartment complex drive a Vespa unless someone recently just moved in. Loud, crashing noises can be heard from Takasugi’s apartment, taking Hijikata's attention away from the Vespa and to Takasugi's apartment. He is slightly surprised, Hijikata didn’t expect Takasugi to be home so soon from work. He was kind of hoping to avoid him for at least a few days.

Hijikata sighs. Pulling out the Mayaboro box stored in his pocket, Hijikata takes out one cigarette and rests the box on the ledge. He places the cigarette between his lips. The mayonnaise bottle-shaped lighter sparks two times before emitting a flame. Covering the open flame with one hand, he brings it to the cigarette with the other hand. The tip of the cigarette glows red and he closes the airway of the lighter, slipping it back into his pocket. Hijikata is only alone for a few seconds until he hears a door sliding open and close from behind him. Inhaling on the cigarette and removing it from his mouth, Hijikata takes out another cigarette and holds it in his left hand. Without taking his eyes off the street, he stretches his arm outwards to his neighbour, silently offering the cigarette.

Moments pass and the cigarette hasn’t been taken from between his fingers. His arm is getting tired and Hijikata is getting irritated.

“Oogushi-kun, don’t you know these cancer sticks are bad for you?”

Hijikata whips his head to the left to discover a white perm head stranger staring at him instead of the usual one-eyed bastard. He instantly retracts his arm and breathes in - a waft of strawberries can be smelled in the shared air. “Who are you?” Hijikata prompts.

“Answer my question first,” the strange man replies immediately.

“Tch,” Hijikata turns his head away from the stranger to face forward. He inhales the cigarette once more. There’s an awkward silence as Hijikata continues to smoke. Slipping the unused cigarette back into the box, Hijikata shifts his head to glance at the man, watching the perm head sip from a strawberry milk carton as he types something onto his phone. Exhaling, Hijikata exclaims, “Did you just call me ‘Oogushi-kun’? Where the fuck did you get that name from?”

The mysterious man perks up from his phone screen at Hijikata’s question. Swallowing the strawberry milk the man had in his mouth, he steps towards Hijikata’s direction and lifts a pointed finger at Hijikata. “Your jacket, stupid,” he states as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Hijikata looks downwards to his jacket and understands the little joke. However, Hijikata does not appreciate the little nickname the strange man has given him. “Are you making fun of my jacket? An old friend gifted me this, you bastard,” He snaps at the giggling man.

“I hate to be the one to break it to you, Oogushi-kun, but clearly your friend doesn’t like you very much,” the perm head says, snickering into his hand.

“Hah, what did you say, you perm bastard?!” Hijikata can feel a vein pop out of his forehead. _What the fuck is wrong with this guy?_

The man doesn’t reply. They both stare at one another, unwilling to be the first to break this little game of their intense gazing. Looking deeply into the man’s eyes, Hijikata notes that he has dark-red irises; the colour of Hijikata’s favourite wine staring back at him. _Does he have contacts in_? As much as Hijikata hates to admit it, this small feature is very attractive - too bad it’s paired with dead fish eyes. Hijikata suddenly becomes aware of how long the two were staring at each other. He turns his head away, feeling blood trickling to his cheeks. Inhaling again on the cigarette, Hijikata peeps out of the corner of his eyes to look at the man once more, only to find the stranger still blatantly staring at Hijikata. Feeling self-conscious, Hijikata runs a hand through his shaggy, dark hair and plops it back to his side, awkwardly coughing as he does so. “So… How do you know Takasugi?” Hijikata asks, hoping to make some light conversation with this weird man.

The man visibly halts his movements, eyes slightly going wide at the question. “We’re… friends,” he says, swallowing between the two spoken words. A small chuckle leaves the man’s lips, a (sad?) smile replacing his usual one. He finally averts his gaze away from Hijikata, deciding that the empty street is much more interesting than Takasugi’s neighbour. Hijikata takes the hint that this topic has ended, turning his head away as well. It’s even more awkward between the two than before. Deciding that he needs more nicotine to ease his senses, Hijikata lights another cigarette.

As much as Hijikata tries to keep his head facing forward, his blue eyes keep traveling back to Takasugi’s… friend. Hijikata looks the man up and down from his peripheral. Sporting nothing but a _tight_ white tank top with blue waves adorning the bottom and strawberry ( _seriously?_ ) covered boxers, Hijikata wonders how the perm head is not freezing in this weather. The strange man continuously switched between glancing down at his phone and looking onward at the isolated street. It seems as if he is waiting for someone.

Hijikata continues to smoke, thoughts wandering aimlessly until they eventually all land back to the strange man standing beside him. Hijikata decides to stare at the man more openly after a few more minutes of silence pass by. The mysterious man has very toned biceps and calves - slightly bulging with every movement of his body. Hijikata’s gaze travels to the man’s head - he cannot decipher whether the strange man’s wavy, silvery-blue hair is natural or not. Hijikata’s eyes trek downwards, spotting small bruises that travel down his neck and into the crook of his tank top where it’s not visible anymore. These marks seem to replicate Takasugi’s own hickeys.

_…Oh._

Everything suddenly connects in Hijikata’s mind. _So, this is the “woman” Takasugi mentioned yesterday._

Hijikata awkwardly coughs, trying to forget about that conversation again. He decides to call out to the man, “If you’re looking for Takasugi, he left for work earlier today. Shouldn’t you know that?”

The man visibly jumps at the spoken words, clearly forgetting about Hijikata’s presence. He pauses before whipping his head towards Hijikata’s direction and pulling the most obnoxious face that Hijikata has seen in his whole life. “Oh, is he? Thank you so much for the help, Oogushi-kun, I totally did not know that,” The perm head sneers, drawing each word longer than necessary. The end of the cigarette is harshly bitten on as Hijikata clenches his teeth, trying to calm himself down. Forget any common courtesy Hijikata tried to display towards the stranger.

As Hijikata opens his mouth to yell at Takasugi’s “friend” for speaking so rudely, the man interrupts, “Psst, Oogushi-kun. Come here, I need to tell you something,” The perm head whispered loudly, obnoxiously motioning Hijikata to come closer to him.

Hijikata’s eyebrow slightly twitches at the demand. _I'm not a dog_. As he approaches the man standing on the other balcony, he calms down a tad bit. _This is getting ridiculous._ Hijikata thinks to himself, not truly understanding why he’s indulging in the bastard’s requests; he hopes this will be the only request he asks and Hijikata will never have to see him ever again. The sun slowly sets as the two stares into each other’s eyes again. Hijikata inhales once more on the chewed-up cigarette, the tip glowing red. He exhales, smoke covering both their visions of one another.

“Can I help you, you stupid perm head?” grumbled Hijikata.

“No, no. Come _closer_ ,” The man teased, arms holding his leaning torso off the ledge of the balcony. Hijikata sighs, copying the stranger’s position. The two men are closer than they have been this whole time, only a few inches away from each other’s faces. Now that Hijikata has finally gotten a good look at the man’s face, Hijikata can’t help but admit that the face staring back at him is incredibly attractive. However, Hijikata would rather take that opinion to his grave than ever tell the bastard standing before him.

“What do you want?” Hijikata sighed, cigarette dangling off his bottom lip. Chilly air blows in between the two men’s hair as they continue to fixate their gaze on one another. The street lights turn on, breaking Hijikata out of that weird trance.

“Hey.”

Hijikata whisks his head to see the man in front of him grinning like a Chesire cat before he proceeds to snatch the cigarette out of Hijikata’s mouth. Wide-eyed, Hijikata stumbles back onto his balcony - too surprised to say anything to the extremely smug-looking male. The stranger’s deep laugh fills Hijikata’s ears as he recovers from the initial shock.

“Why’d you do that? I wasn’t finished with it, you perm head bastard,” Hijikata barked. Embarrassed because of how bewildered he was, Hijikata’s face increasingly turns more shades of red as the man continues to laugh, completely ignoring the question.

As the mysterious man’s howling finally dies down, he looks back at Hijikata. Smirking, he purrs, “Didn’t I tell you these cancer sticks were bad for you, Oogushi-kun?” pressing the used cigarette to his lips and inhaling.

Hijikata has never felt more dumbfounded than he does at this moment. He is suddenly too aware of the loud heartbeat thumping in his ears.

_What. The. Fuck._

The man standing before him coyly smiles - cigarette smoke leaving his plump lips. He drops the cigarette bud onto the floor, stomping on it to extinguish the remains. “See you around, Oogushi-kun,” He sing-songs as he grabs the strawberry milk carton sitting on the ledge and slides open the door, walking inside Takasugi’s apartment. Hijikata is left all alone again with only the cold air as his companion. Burying his head into his hands, Hijikata mumbles, “Tch. Stupid perm head, I never even got your name.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh yea.. that was an experience,,  
> this was my first time ever writing fan fic i think i was possessed while writing this,, sorry if it was ooc/badly written  
> tbh idk if im gonna continue this fic i just rly wanted to write about hijikata masturbating over takagin having sex but then i realized i can't write smut LMFAO ((psst if someone can pls write this i will gift u my left arm))  
> bruh u dont understand how hard it was referring to gintoki every other sentence as "the (strange) man"  
> uhh idk what else to say ,, comments and kudos would be cool but not necessary whatsoever !!!<33
> 
> p.s. we need more bottom gintoki fics i am STARVINg i am tired of seeing the big dick gintoki tag he is a lil shithead who likes it up the ass /hj /lh  
> p.p.s if u come back n see a few sentences changed, no u didnt❤️


	2. Drinking Doesn't Solve All Problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: idk if im ever gonna continue this fic y'all  
> also me: writes a ~6k word chapter in less than a week
> 
> also... *quietly changes the implied sexual content tag to explicit sexual content* .. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> before u read this pls know i love takasugi so much (also me: haha takasugi short how are u so small haha) ,,  
> enjoy reading !!<33
> 
> edit: if it’s not clear this chapter occurs on the same day hijikata first meets gintoki, apologies if it was confusing !

Takasugi dreads going home tonight. He glances at the vibrating phone sitting on top of his desk that's covered with various documents and sees the lit screen flooded with multiple messages - knowing all are from a certain wavy-haired sugar addict. Takasugi groans inwardly, already aware of what the notifications would say. Gintoki wants to talk about their fight yesterday; Takasugi doesn’t. The one-eyed man still hasn’t properly processed what occurred last night. 

_“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home so late? You have a cell phone for a reason Takasugi, learn how to fucking use it for once,” Gintoki spat, eyebrows furrowing with every word leaving his mouth._

_“Why does it matter if I tell you or not? It’s not like we’re together,” shouted Takasugi, his voice matching the other man’s volume._

_Gintoki looked visibly stunned by Takasugi’s words - his exasperated face changing to one displaying anguish. Takasugi wanted to relish more in Gintoki’s suffering face. “If you’re looking for a lay, I’m sure Katsura or Sakamoto would be more than happy to oblige to your obscene neediness,” sneered Takasugi purposefully, knowing where to hit Gintoki where it hurts._

_Gintoki’s eyes were hidden from Takasugi’s perspective as he lowered his head. It’s quiet between the two; the only sound heard in Takasugi’s apartment was their heavy breathing._

_“Move.”_

_Takasugi snorted. When did he ever listen to Gintoki?_

_Takasugi’s smaller frame stood between the silvery-haired male and the door, not daring to move for Gintoki. Without uttering another word, Gintoki stormed toward the one-eyed man, shoulders clashing against one another. The sudden force caused Takasugi to stumble backward. After gaining his footing again, Takasugi looked upwards, only to be met with an empty apartment. Fuck, he needed a smoke._

Oh… yeah. That’s what happened. 

Takasugi isn’t quite sure why he had gotten so angry, especially needing to feel like he had to say those last words. It just felt kind of… cathartic to see Gintoki so hurt. 

The eggplant-coloured haired male briefly wonders if he had seemingly developed a sadism kink overnight. Another vibration of his phone goes off, which draws Takasugi’s attention once again. The medical documents in the male’s slender hands are slightly crumpled by the corners as Takasugi debates whether to give up on work and check his phone, or completely divulge himself into his work and ignore Gintoki’s pitiful wails. 

Takasugi decides to do neither option. Quickly tidying up the discarded papers scattered on his work desk, he shuts off his phone from further annoyances and slips it into his pant pockets. As he adorns his dark lavender jacket that is littered with golden butterflies, the window in his office rattles from the strong gust of the autumn wind. He says goodbyes to his fellow colleagues that are slumped over on their desk surrounded with more paperwork than he had. _Suckers._ Takasugi silently snickers to himself. 

He pushes the downwards elevator button with his knuckle, questioning where he shall stop by before ultimately going home and facing the consequences of last night. As he waits for the elevator, Takasugi distractedly scratches the backside of his head where he feels the bandages covering his left eye shift with the movement. He’ll fix it later - now's not the time to do so.

The pub a couple of streets away seem like an ideal location - Takasugi doesn’t want to be sober when he talks to Gintoki. The streetlights above the man cast a long shadow as Takasugi strolled down the sidewalk as the night air blew against the short man’s figure, reddening the tips of his ears and his cheeks. After spending many wintry nights of his childhood locked out by his father from his own home, Takasugi has learned resistance against coldness. Takasugi’s face sours quite a bit at this memory, scrunching his face inwards to his body. He definitely needs a drink now. 

As Takasugi pushes the local pub door open, a gust of warm air blasts against him, quickly warming his body up. The pub is relatively empty save for a few regulars. Stalking up towards the counter, Takasugi sits down as the bartender peers up from cleaning the used glasses and smiles cheerfully at his presence. “Hey Takasugi, I haven’t seen you in a while. You’re drinking by yourself tonight?” questioned the bartender as she opened a Yakult-flavoured Soju bottle for him - his favourite drink. She slides Takasugi’s order over and he catches it in his hand, immediately gulping half of the bottle down. The aftertaste slightly burns his throat but he doesn’t mind. If anything, it makes the drink more inviting. 

“Yea, it’s just me tonight, Fumiko. Is that disappointing for you?” Takasugi mumbles, nursing the green bottle in his hands. 

Fumiko giggles, preparing another bottle for the man. “No, it’s fine. I just wanted to share more photos of my duck with Katsura since he asked last time he was here.” The memory of a very wasted Zura ugly-crying and clinging onto Takasugi because of an equally ugly duck had Takasugi chuckling into his drink. That was a good night; they were celebrating Sakamoto’s promotion at the space station (Takasugi honestly wonders how an airhead like Sakamoto was ever qualified for a job like that. Nonetheless, he was happy for him) and they all had gotten plastered. Takasugi would be embarrassed for getting so hammered for someone his age if not for the amazing drunk sex he had with Gintoki later that night. 

He almost forgot about the man waiting for him back home. Letting out an exasperated breath, Takasugi tips the bottle over, the rest of the alcohol flowing into Takasugi’s mouth and traveling through his blood system. 

The pub fills up with more customers as time passes by. By the time Takasugi reaches his sixth or seventh drink (He’s too drunk to count), a tall, blond sits beside him, looking in Takasugi’s direction. Takasugi doesn’t pay the stranger any attention as he slams down another finished bottle. 

“Whatcha doin’ drinking all by yourself, handsome?” purrs the stranger, signalling the bartender for two more Yakult Sojus. 

The flirtatious greeting startles Takasugi, turning his attention towards the blonde who is holding one of the Soju bottles out to Takasugi. He’s very attractive: piercing blue eyes, naturally straight golden hair, and a face that looks extremely familiar but Takasugi can’t exactly pinpoint why.

As Takasugi reaches over to accept the drink, their fingers brush against one another which brings a sly smile to the stranger’s face. 

“Trying to run away from my problems like everyone else here,” Takasugi grumbles, lips circling the Yakult-flavoured Soju bottle. While Takasugi takes a lengthy sip, the man smirks as his gaze travels from Takasugi’s pink lips to his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. Takasugi pretends to not notice the blond’s intense staring as he continues draining the bottle of its essence. 

“I think I can help you with that,” whispering into Takasugi’s ear as the man leans over, gripping Takasugi’s right thigh for balance and squeezing playfully.

It doesn’t take long for the two to stumble into a vacant bathroom stall, hands touching and grabbing whatever body part they can as they kiss hungrily. Their kiss is messy; tongues pressing against one another as they swap saliva. Despite Takasugi’s smaller frame, the one-eyed man pins the taller male to the wall as the other’s muscular arms are thrown over Takasugi’s back. One of the blond man’s legs circles around Takasugi's waist, pressing Takasugi’s pelvis closer to his own. Takasugi’s hands find their way to the other’s waist, holding it in place to prevent the man from rubbing against him. A string of saliva keeps the two mouths connected as they separate for oxygen. The taller male breathlessly laughs as the heavy pants from Takasugi tickle his neck. 

“Fuck,” Takasugi groans into the crook of the man’s neck, lightly nipping at the skin as his hands slowly travel down the other’s slender sides. The blond man tilts Takasugi away from his neck, cupping the one-eyed man’s head between his smooth hands to stare into Takasugi’s dilated eye. “You’re beautiful,” the man utters, smiling lovingly as he runs his fingers along with the wine-coloured hair. 

Takasugi freezes. Going into this, he just expected a quick fuck and nothing else. There wasn’t supposed to be any sweet, nauseating words or emotions shared between the two. Pain suddenly shoots up to his bandaged eye, making Takasugi grasp at it and doubling over. This shouldn’t be happening.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” the other man asks, his tone dripping with worry. He tries to reach out to Takasugi only to have his hands slapped away by the hurt man. Takasugi can’t breathe. When he finally glances back upwards, his surroundings are swirling around him, giving Takasugi slight motion sickness. He needs to leave, now.

Without saying a word, Takasugi drunkenly stumbles out of the bathroom as the neglected man’s pleas and cries get drowned by the overbearing music playing. 

He does not bother apologizing to the other customers he accidentally bumps into as he continues walking out of the pub. The moment he’s hit with the cold night air, he pukes. _Sorry, Fumiko._ Takasugi can’t hold it in any longer, barfing the contents of what he drank tonight out of his body right by the front door. 

When he finally finishes, Takasugi feels like he can breathe again. His work shirt is crumpled from Takasugi’s fierce grip. Whipping the remaining puke on his face with his jacket sleeve, he recalls the events that had just occurred. Takasugi feels a tad embarrassed for his overreaction to a few spoken words by a total stranger but he’s more frustrated that he hadn’t finished what he started. Releasing the tight hold on his chest, Takasugi pulls out his phone, turning it on to check the time but was bombarded with dozens of messages from a certain man. 

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 2:27 p.m.**

i’m over at ur place. u didn’t refill on strawberry milk like i told u to do? jerk

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 3:06 p.m.**

don’t worry gin-san has just bought strawberry milk with HIS own money 

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 3:07 p.m.**

definitely did not find the secret stash of cash thats under ur side of the bed

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 3:11 p.m.**

there wasn’t enough space in the fridge for my strawberry milk so i threw out ur yakults :^) hope u don’t mind takasugiii~

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 3:16 p.m.**

it was a joke 

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 3:33 p.m.**

takasugi we need to talk about yesterday

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 3:58 p.m.**

i’ll totally drop this topic if u respond in 

5

4

3

2

1

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 4:16 p.m.**

oi i know u can see this

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 4:20 p.m.**

haha it’s 420 

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 4:21 p.m.**

why are u ignoring me are u trying to die huh? is that it?

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 4:44 p.m.**

bakasugi i really did throw out ur yakult! that’s what u deserve for leaving gin san all alone 

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 5:07 p.m.**

ur not gonna believe this. ur neighbour thought i was u LOL can u imagine >__< trying to not puke at that idea

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 5:23 p.m.**

when are u coming home i’ve been standing out in the cold waiting for u i think my nips froze off

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 5:27 p.m.**

i didn’t know ur neighbour smokes too. and he smokes more than u too it’s sorta impressive lol

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 6:02 p.m.**

oogushi kun is so fun to tease lmao why have i never seen him around

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 6:14 p.m.**

DO NOT STOP reading this or something bad will happen to you and your loved ones!!!!!!

Hi, my name is Marcus and I am 8 years old. I was beaten to death by a bully on December 2, 1969. His name was Joshua. Nobody found my body and the bully continued living. I returned as a ghost and killed him the following week. 

A young girl named Jazzie read this spooky message. She thought it was a stupid and fake story. She deleted the message and laughed at her friend who sent this to her. Later that night, before she was going to sleep, she heard me come into her room. Before she could grab her phone and send the message, I killed her. Her screams woke her mother up and she rushed into the room. The only things she saw were Jazzie’s dead body and the bloody message written on the wall: “She didn’t listen.” 

Another girl who read this thought it was real, sending it to all her friends. A very smart girl. That very night, I watched her to make sure nothing bad happened to her. 

If you want me to protect you instead of killing you, you have to send this message to 15 friends in 15 minutes or suffer the consequences!

AHH TAKASUGI THAT WAS SO SCARY TO READ 

HURRY U HAVE TO SEND THE MESSAGE TO ZURA AND TATSUMA I DON’T WANT U DYING !!!!

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 6:39 p.m.**

are u dead yet takasugi

**Zzzura - 7:42 p.m.**

Takasugi, take a break from work and look at this video of Tatsuma. You won’t regret it, I promise. Laughing out loud. Message sent from Katsura.

**Bakamoto - 7:43 p.m.**

HAHAHAHAHAHA GOOD EVENING BAKASUGI. HOW ARE YOU DOING? IM DOING GREAT. HAHAHAHA IF U HAPPEN TO SEE A VIDEO OF ME SENT FROM ZURA, DON’T WATCH IT HAHAHAHA THANKS BAKASUGI

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 7:44 p.m.**

LOOK AT THIS VIDEO ZURA SENT OF TATSUMA SLIPPING INTO ELIZABETH’S SHIT HAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAH 

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 8:09 p.m.**

u didn’t find the video funny? :(

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 8:13 p.m.**

hellOoOOoOOOOOOOoOOOOoOOooo 

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 8:55 p.m.**

bastard

**Sugar Lo(s)ver - 9:42 p.m.**

You know we’re gonna talk when you get home tonight, you know that right? Right? Don’t think you can run from me Takasugi.

Takasugi glances at the time. It’s 11:06 p.m. _Shit._

Flagging a taxi down, he starts to head home. The ride is relatively quiet albeit the faint pop music playing from the car radio. The intoxicated man shuts his eye, using all his remaining concentration to focus on his breathing. Takasugi isn’t sure when he dozed off, but the violent shaking from the taxi driver startles him, jolting Takasugi awake. The other man jumps as well, apologizing profusely for the inappropriate touching. Takasugi is too tired to deal with this. Yawning, he hands the taxi driver the money for the ride with a generous tip. When Takasugi steps out of the taxi, he spots from across the street his neighbour walking out of the apartment complex, fully decked out in warm clothing to prevent catching any sickness.

Takasugi has studied Hijikata substantially since he moved into the empty apartment next to him 4 years ago. He has learned that Hijikata is a very cautious man; he’s wary of everything and everyone despite working in a very dangerous field. Takasugi isn’t sure what caused Hijikata to become a very guarded person, and he doesn’t think he ever will. But Takasugi knows Hijikata is an honest man to a fault; he wears his emotions on his sleeve and will speak out against any disrespectful things. He has experienced this many times. Takasugi can appreciate a man like Hijikata. Plus, it’s very amusing to tease Hijikata over his cherry-boy attitude, seeing his handsome face turn tomato-red at the slight mention of anything relating to sex. 

The short man watches Hijikata shiver as a gust of cold wind blows against the two. He snuggles deeper into his red cashmere scarf, trying to hide his face from the coldness. His gaze doesn’t leave Hijikata as his body gets smaller and further away, eventually too tiny to be visible to the human eye.

Takasugi has sobered up a little on the drive home and from the intensive staring of Hijikata’s stature. He’s exhausted from the long night but he highly doubts Gintoki will let him off so easily. Clumsily walking up the stairs to the lobby, Takasugi fishes out his apartment keys from his jacket and unlocks the door. A small buzzing from the flickering lights echoes through the lobby, annoying Takasugi to no end. He stops in front of the elevator and notices a piece of paper taped onto the doors. Ripping the paper off the door, his hand shakes vigorously as he reads the words: “The elevator is currently out of service. Sorry for the inconvenience :).” He audibly groans in disbelief. It’s as if the universe doesn’t want Takasugi to go home either. The thought of burning down this building momentarily crosses his mind. He knows he shouldn’t. Sighing, Takasugi drags his weary legs away from the elevators and starts climbing the four flights of stairs. 

* * *

Takasugi is heavily panting as he stumbles to his front door. The welcoming mat laid in front of Takasugi’s apartment is crooked to the right which he straightens it back with his foot. It displays the words ‘go away’ with a white cat sticking its middle fingers up. Takasugi would never buy himself something so tacky, but it was a gift from Gintoki. 

_“Now you’ll see me every day, Chibisugi!” Gintoki cooed, both hands thrusting a large gift bag into Takasugi’s palms. Takasugi wasn’t sure what those words meant, but it had his heart thumping rapidly against his chest. However, it instantly died down when Takasugi pulled the present into view._

_“What the fuck is this? Why’s it so hideous?” Takasugi deadpanned, staring at the ugly design sewn onto the mat._

_Gintoki audibly scoffed, grabbing the mat out of Takasugi’s hands and holding it close to his body. “Don’t say that about Gintoki Jr.! You’ll hurt his feelings,” gasped Gintoki, pointing to the white cat._

_Takasugi looked again at the cat and realized the silly comparison that Gintoki was trying to make. He did admit it did sort of resemble the male standing in front of him. ‘What an absolute idiot,’ Takasugi thought, slightly chuckling to himself. He looked back at Gintoki’s exaggerated sad face and grabbed his jaw, lowering Gintoki’s face close enough that their lips were mere millimeters apart. Gintoki squeaked, eyes going wide at this movement. “Thank you for the gift, Gintoki,” his voice dropped a few octaves as he whispered, softly pressing his lips against the wavy-haired man’s._

He’s not exactly sure what triggered this memory randomly but it brings a tender smile to his lips. But his face quickly distorts into a scowl - instead of the usual dumb ( ~~and charming~~ ) Gintoki, he has to deal with an upset bastard on the other side of the door. Good thing Takasugi is still tipsy.

Upon opening the door, Takasugi braces himself for a yelling Gintoki but instead is greeted with… silence. He’s surprised, to say the least; he was expecting a dirty slipper thrown right at his face (like last night). He walks into his lit-up apartment, loudly shutting the front door. Still nothing. A sigh of relief leaves Takasugi’s lips.

As Takasugi starts to take his shoes off, he loses balance and slams into the wall. Falling onto the floor, Takasugi settles there for a moment, staring up onto the ceiling. He’s not particularly thinking of anything specific right now. He lays there for God knows how long until he hears the couch in the living room creak. When he shoots up from the ground, Takasugi winces from the slight head rush, groaning into his hands. Eventually, he stands up and walks further into his apartment. 

The couch is occupied with a lazy, stupid, and dirty man. An opened Shonen Jump magazine is placed on top of the man’s face, covering his sight from the blinding living room lights. Towering over Gintoki, Takasugi gently removes the book resting on his face, placing it beside the opened strawberry milk on the coffee table. Gintoki unconsciously winces at the light exposure. A quiet snicker escapes Takasugi as he watches the sleeping man bring an arm to cover his eyes. Takasugi’s gaze travels to Gintoki’s other arm which is hanging off the couch. A cell phone is on the floor, Takasugi assumes that it slipped from Gintoki’s grip as he drifted to sleep. Unbeknownst to either males, Takasugi was staring at Gintoki’s sleeping face for a long time, eyes full of affection and love. 

Takasugi acknowledges that the two men have been through a lot together over the many, many years of knowing one another. However, they were detached for a period of time because of ‘unfortunate circumstances’ that Takasugi can’t stand thinking about. His mind drifts to the time they reconciled due to Sakamoto’s devious plan. 

_“Tatsuma, you know you can’t trap me here, right? I’m not partying with the drunk imbecile in the corner,” Takasugi protested, angrily pointing to the sugar freak slumped over on the table._

_“Hahahahahaha, don’t be silly Bakasugi! Just sit down and enjoy yourself. We need to celebrate Zura finally passing his driver’s test after 16 tries!” Sakamoto guffawed, spit landing on Takasugi’s annoyed face. Katsura’s head whipped up from resting on the table, yelling, “It’s not Zura, it’s-” before puking onto the floor beside Gintoki; a few drops landing on his pant bottoms._

_“Oi, turn the other way when you puke, idiot!” shrieked Gintoki as he jumped away from Katsura. “It’s not Idiot, it’s-” Katsura puked again._

_Takasugi had never felt more disgusted in his life; his senses muffled by the overwhelming stench of Katsura’s puke. Gintoki’s gaze landed on Takasugi, his eyebrows furrowing at the sight of his ex-friend. “Let the midget go, Tatsuma,” said Gintoki, drawing each word out longer than necessary. “He’s just afraid of drinking anything other than his disgusting Yakult Soju,” the sugar-addict drawled._

_And that’s how Takasugi ended up matching Gintoki shot for shot. Katsura had passed out in a puddle of his own puke for a while now, while Sakamoto was nowhere to be seen. The two were around 13 shots of vodka each before Takasugi lost count._

_“Are you ready to admit defeat, Gintoki?” slurred Takasugi, his face inching closer to the other intoxicated man, trying to look as intimidating as possible (Years later, Gintoki still makes fun of him, saying he looked like a cute little puppy). Gintoki looked at him with hooded eyes, smirking as he downed another shot. Takasugi stared a little too intensely at Gintoki’s whole body as he recoiled from the alcohol burn. Gintoki started to chuckle silently when he set the shot glass back down which raised Takasugi’s curiosity. “Why are you laughing? It’s irritating the shit out of me.” Gintoki continued to laugh for a few more moments before vehemently staring at Takasugi._

_“Ooh, you wanna kiss me so bad,” Gintoki purred, cocking his head as he wiped the remaining alcohol from his plump lips._

_So Takasugi did._

Takasugi drags his slender fingers through Gintoki’s silvery locks, lightly scratching his scalp as he reminisces. A quiet puff of air leaves Gintoki’s lips as his head tilts into Takasugi’s warm palm, slightly snuggling against it. For the second time this night, he freezes in his tracks. The purple-haired man hates how strongly his heart wrenched at this intimacy - he doesn’t deserve this sort of love. He doesn’t deserve any sort of love. 

Removing his hand from Gintoki’s face, the sleeping man whines at the loss of warmth, turning his head away from Takasugi’s body and into the cushions. Takasugi’s standing body starts to sway back and forth as he continues to stare at Gintoki’s peaceful face. That’s when Takasugi has a realization; the man from tonight looks exactly like the unconscious man in his apartment. He starts laughing humorlessly; he can’t believe it. That’s just his luck - two identical-looking men wanting nothing but to show him a love that Takasugi isn’t entitled to. Takasugi feels pathetic.

As his laughter dies down, Takasugi starts to replay the events from tonight, specifically the ones that happened in the dirty bathroom stall. The drowsy man can feel blood rush downwards. Glancing at Gintoki once more, a dirty idea pops into his mind. _He’s going to be so mad if he wakes up._

Takasugi climbs onto the couch, straddling Gintoki’s muscular body between his knees. The sound of Gintoki’s light snoring is the only noise heard throughout the apartment; the towering man is holding his breath in fear of Gintoki suddenly waking up. As carefully as possible, Takasugi removes the tank top that’s hugging Gintoki’s chest, balling the piece of clothing, and throwing it over the couch. He leans over the sleeping man, hands on either side of Gintoki’s face as he lowers himself until he’s only a few centimeters away. Softly kissing Gintoki’s cheek, Takasugi waits for any sort of reaction. He doesn’t move.

Takasugi starts to get more daring, gingerly peppering Gintoki’s jaw with kisses as he shifts lower down his body. Gintoki abruptly flips his head to face the other way, exposing the sugar addict’s sweet spot on his neck (that Takasugi only knows about). Grinning wildly, he goes in to attack the wavy-haired male’s neck. Takasugi inhales deeply as his head rests in the nape of Gintoki’s neck, smelling a mixture of strawberries and tobacco. If he was being honest, the scent of tobacco tilted Takasugi a slight bit; Gintoki always rejected Takasugi’s offerings of sharing a cigarette. But he doesn’t want to focus on a seemingly small and pointless detail, Takasugi has bigger plans for the night.

Licking a long strip up Gintoki’s neck, Takasugi blows against the wet skin which sends a shiver down Gintoki’s spine. Switching between nipping and sucking on the sensitive skin, one of his hands travels to Gintoki’s muscular pecs, giving them a light squeeze. A breathless moan scapes Gintoki as he shifts under Takasugi. The noise goes directly to Takasugi’s growing crotch. “Fuck…” he mutters under his breath and he sits upright on Gintoki’s body once again. Takasugi reaches to fondle Gintoki’s pecs more, interchanging from massaging to squeezing the muscle fat. His fingernail accidentally nicks a soft nipple which draws a loud moan from Gintoki, twitching underneath Takasugi.

His hands momentarily pause as Takasugi waits for a signal on whether the man beneath him awoke. Nothing. He decides to continue with his mission. Rolling Gintoki’s left nipple between his thumb and index finger, Takasugi’s mouth dives onto the other nipple, swirling his tongue and biting the hardening bud. Gintoki’s body trembles as Takasugi eventually removes his mouth, blowing cool air on the fully hard nipple. The intoxicated male can feel Gintoki’s crotch harden underneath him and he grins to himself, feeling satisfied. He proceeds to do the same for the other nipple, sucking and lapping against the bud but Takasugi decides to do something more daring. Biting down hard around the nipple, an audible cry resonates in Takasugi’s ear as Gintoki ruts against him. Takasugi immediately goes back to sucking on the nipple, leaving kisses as an apology. Both hands are playing with Gintoki’s pecs as he moves towards leaving love marks on his clavicle; a finger flicking a nipple while the other is rolling under his thumb. Gintoki’s body keeps unconsciously bucking against Takasugi for some sort of relief but Takasugi’s legs keep him in place. “You have such an erotic body, Gintoki,” Takasugi growls into Gintoki’s reddening ear, licking along the inside of the shell of his ear and nibbling his earlobe. He can feel Gintoki’s chest frantically rise and fall against his own body, his breaths tickling Takasugi’s own ear.

Leaning back once more, Takasugi examines his ethereal work: glistening, erect nipples standing tall, faded hickeys replaced with new ones, and Gintoki’s chest littered with bite marks. He feels accomplished. Using the backside of his hand, Takasugi wipes the small drool from the corner of his lips. The sexually aroused male brushes Gintoki’s bangs from his sticky forehead, planting a wet kiss in its place. 

Shuffling down to sit on Gintoki’s built thighs, one of his hand’s snakes upwards towards his boxers. Before he can slip the hand in to feel Gintoki’s crotch, a strong grip on his wrist prevents him from doing so. 

“What… the fuck are you doing,” Gintoki pants out in between breaths, voice sounding gravelly from just waking up. Blood-red irises glare upwards at the man and then darts to the hand that is currently enclosed in his grasp. There’s a brief pause before Takasugi grabs Gintoki’s semi-hard crotch with his free hand, giving a squeeze around the cloth. Gintoki grunts, body twitching beneath Takasugi. “Bastard, answer the question.”

“I’m horny,” Takasugi says with a blank stare. Gintoki looks at him dumbfounded before he snaps. “I can tell, you crazy motherfuck-ah!” Gintoki moans out the last part as Takasugi starts moving his hand along Gintoki’s shaft. The aroused man smirks; he knows once Gintoki is in the mood, they won’t stop till the sun rises. Takasugi just needs to push the quivering man a little bit more. Gintoki’s cock grows harder in Takasugi’s smooth palm as he continues flicking his wrist up and down.

Gintoki eventually releases his hold on Takasugi’s wrist to cover his mouth from spilling lewd noises. “Takasugi, ah, please…” His breath hitching as Takasugi’s other hand encircles a nipple, lightly pinching and pulling the hard bud between his fingers. Gintoki jumps up at the sensation, but Takasugi’s body still keeps him pinned down. Finally, Takasugi’s skinny hand slips into Gintoki’s strawberry boxers, pumping the aching cock quicker than before. He sees the front of Gintoki’s boxers slowly become more soaked from the pre-cum as he continues his movements. Despite Gintoki’s pathetic attempt at masking the erotic sounds flowing out of his mouth, Gintoki’s moans fill the blinding room. For as long as Takasugi has known the whimpering man below him, Gintoki is loud. Loud outside and loud in the sheets.

A hand shoots out to grab a hold of Takasugi’s arm. Takasugi’s hand temporarily stops moving along Gintoki’s pulsing cock as he peers over at the other man’s shaky hand. “Bastard, if you keep going, I’m gonna cum.” He trembles out, “And we both know that is not what we want happening.” A mischievous smile appearing on Gintoki’s pretty face ( ~~and lips~~ ).

“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else, Gintoki. When have I ever done something you asked for?” 

Takasugi’s grip tightens once more as he continues to pump Gintoki’s cock wholly. Taking the hand that is weakly clutching his arm, Takasugi brushes his lips against the wrist, softly nibbling and sucking on the thin layer of skin. He draws out a long, high-pitched moan from the trembling man when Takasugi thumbs the slit of the leaking cock, spreading the built-up pre-cum onto the underside of Gintoki’s cock.

“Shit… Takasugi, I’m close!” Gintoki loudly moans out, spazzing on the couch. Tears start pooling at the corner of Gintoki’s eyes from the overwhelming touches. Releasing the hold on the silver-haired man’s wrist, Takasugi leans over to wipe away the tears. Their gaze into each other’s eyes is short-lived when Gintoki glances at Takasugi’s agape mouth. Fondly smiling, Gintoki’s hands spread out to reach Takasugi's head. “Give me a kiss, Takasugi.” Gintoki breathlessly whispers. 

However, as Takasugi leans closer down, a hand shoots out against his shoulder, effectively stopping the intoxicated man in place.

“Why…” Gintoki pausing to catch his breath, “Why does your breath reek of alcohol?” His smile drops.

Takasugi doesn’t respond. Silence rings in both of their ears as they stare at one another for what feels like an eternity until Gintoki very quietly mutters, “I waited for you this whole night. I’m so fucking tired man, can you just answer the question.” 

The accusation enrages the drunk man. Suddenly, Takasugi pushes Gintoki on his chest back down as he tries to prop himself up on his elbows. Gintoki yelps from the abrupt force, eyes going wide. Takasugi’s grasp on Gintoki’s cock stops as both hands circle Gintoki’s bruised throat, tightening his grip. “So what if I did? It’s none of your goddamn business.” Takasugi spats, wanting to destroy the man underneath him that’s gasping for breath.

As more pressure is applied to Gintoki’s windpipe, he starts flailing his arms, trying to grasp the other man’s arms to obtain any sort of relief on his throat. His vision starts to blur. Seeing no end to Takasugi’s deathly grip, Gintoki uses the rest of his strength to swing at the perpetrator, effectively hitting the side of his face. The violent man loosens his grasp, slumping over Gintoki’s naked torso. Gintoki starts fiercely coughing at the release of his throat. He needs to leave, immediately. 

Pushing the other man off of himself, Gintoki witnesses Takasugi’s body flop onto the couch, still unmoving. Gintoki frantically gets up from the sunken sofa to grab the bare necessities: his cell phone, the unfinished weekly shonen jump magazine, and a carton of strawberry milk. And oh yea, clothes. 

He picks up his forgotten cell phone from the floor and places it on the coffee table. Gintoki quickly strides into Takasugi’s bedroom and throws on the first warm pieces of clothing he could find. His throat aches from earlier. The exhausted male tries to massage the skin to relieve any pain as he shuffles back into the living room. Approaching the couch, he looks over to the other male on the couch. Takasugi’s figure is curled into a ball as if he was trying to make himself appear as small as possible to the world. _What the fuck happened to us?_

As Gintoki starts pocketing the items left on the glass coffee table, he hears a few words leave Takasugi’s lips that completely devastated him: “I should’ve just finished fucking the guy in the bathroom.” 

Gintoki cannot stand the absolute dread he feels at this exact moment. The room feels like it is enclosing in on himself. His breaths feel shallow and a chill runs down his body despite his immense sweating. Gintoki knows what is about to occur but he doesn’t want it to happen in front of Takasugi - anyone else but him. 

He glances over his shoulder once more towards the man, hearing faint snoring noises from that direction. 

Gintoki shuts the front door quietly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i hope u had a fun time reading this :-)<33 once again i apologize if the characters are too ooc and if the smut was badly written (its my first attempt at it asfahkf ;u;) i cant believe i rly wrote like ,, a whole paragraph on just.. gin tiddies LMFAO  
> sorry there were so many flashbacks i just *clenches chest* tkgn makes me feel many diff emotions i wanted to keep writing nice n wholesome interactions between the two bc the story is so ""angsty"" ;-;  
> i have at least 2 other chapters planned so ???!?!?!! i guess im continuing this bih !!?!?!! :0 i dont rly have much else to say my brain is empty i hope ur excited for the upcoming chapters (no more sad gintoki society has progressed past the need of sad gintoki)
> 
> p.s. thank u for all the support for the first chapter btw it was very overwhelming bc i never expected such positive feedback ;u; <3 it honestly motivated me enough to continue this fic so ashfsafjdsk kudos and comments would be very appreciated (but not necessary AT all !!)
> 
> p.p.s ik it might seem strange n impossible that gintoki took so long to wake up (esp with everything takasugi was doing lul) but shh just imagine gintoki as a very very very very heavy sleeper hahaokty
> 
> p.p.p.s i didn’t realize how many ppl hate kintoki LMFAOO i just thought it’ll be a hehefunny if i included him i didn’t expect such an uproar over him appearing dkm 😭😭


	3. You'll Never Know Who You End Up Going Home With

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry its been so long since i updated hope u havent forgotten ab this story ;u;  
> i dont rly have much to say here so ENJOY READING !!!<333

It’s dawn when Hijikata starts to head home from his last overnight shift of the week. The gorgeous pink and purple tones in the sky encaptures Hijikata’s vision as it continues to effortlessly expand over his head. _What a beautiful sight._ Hijikata realizes he doesn’t particularly appreciate the smaller beauties in life; he should start to do so before he misses out on any more stunning things.

Exhaling, Hijikata’s breath comes out in a cloud of puff. He shivers; it’s a chilly morning. The exhausted man’s eyes glisten with tears as his mouth opens wide from his loud yawn. Hijikata is cold and tired. From between working five days straight and his obscure dreams haunting him, Hijikata has barely gotten a wink of sleep all week. Stopping in his tracks, the officer’s face visibly turns sour as his thoughts drift to the confusing dream he had last night that featured a certain unnamed perm head. 

A certain unnamed perm head with white cat ears and a tail. 

Hijikata grumbles into his hands; why did his dream last night have the idiot appear with animal characteristics?! Did he suddenly develop a feline fetish without his knowledge? Thank God nothing perverted happened and it was just Hijikata giving belly rubs and ear scratches to the feline hybrid or Hijikata doesn’t think he would have been able to ever sleep ever again.

The first night the strange male appeared, Hijikata brushed it off since the perm head was the first person Hijikata has interacted with outside of his circle in literal years. However, as the days went on and the dreams have gotten more confusing with each passing one, Hijikata doesn’t believe he can exactly justify his reason anymore. 

The morning rays shine into Hijikata’s eyes which breaks him from his thoughts. The soft hues above had switched into a bright blue tone with not a single cloud in the sky. He didn’t realize how long he had stayed in place reminiscing his strange dreams. Hijikata’s face becomes more shades of red in return. Maybe he’s the weird one. 

Quickly picking up his pace, Hijikata ends up running to his apartment. Out of breath, he trudges inside and flops over on the living room couch. Hijikata just wants some rest without a certain man visiting him. Groaning loudly, Hijikata lifts his head off the cushions and stares out onto his balcony. Maybe a quick smoke before bed will put the nicotine addict at ease. 

Rolling off the sofa, Hijikata walks outside onto his small balcony. He takes in a deep breath; the smell of tobacco is already lingering in the air. Hijikata tilts his head to the side and spots his neighbour smoking a cigarette. Takasugi is simply wearing a plain black T-shirt with violet shorts adorning a gold leaf design.

Hijikata’s face is in visible shock - how is Takasugi wearing such little clothing when it’s below zero degrees Celsius? 

He calls out to his neighbour, “Oi! What are you doing out here wearing so little? Aren’t you freezing?” 

Takasugi doesn’t respond as he continues to stare out into the distance, inhaling the small cigarette bud placed in his mouth. 

Hijikata sighs - of course, he was ignored. Takasugi is always lost in his own little world in the morning. Walking towards the purple-haired male’s direction, Hijikata asks, “Do you want another cigarette? It’s my turn anyway.” 

Finally, his neighbour turns his head and Hijikata tries his best to not visibly cringe at how terrible Takasugi looks: dark, puffy bags underneath his visible eye, his cheeks sunken, and his face drained of any remaining colour. The two stare at each other for a few seconds. 

“Hey… Are you okay? Shit, you look horrible. Are you out here smoking one last time before heading to your grave?” The blue-eyed man stammers as he tries to make a lighthearted joke to lighten the mood.

It doesn’t work.

Takasugi keeps his gaze on Hijikata, making the male more anxious. Eventually, Takasugi exasperatedly sighs and averts his eyes away from Hijikata. “Just hand over the cigarette, Hijikata. It’s too early in the morning to be teasing you,” the male says, his voice devoid of any happiness.

Hijikata grumbles under his breath over how he doesn’t need to be doing this for Takasugi as a rough hand holding a cigarette stretches out to the other male. 

As Takasugi lights up the cigarette, Hijikata takes out another one for him as well. The two inhale on the cancer sticks for a few brief moments before Hijikata shifts his attention back to his insane neighbour. 

“I was serious before, are you doing okay?” Hijikata falters awkwardly. He’s not the best with dealing with emotions but he’ll try nonetheless. Takasugi doesn’t respond, exhaling a large puff of smoke from deep within his lungs. Sighing, Hijikata tries once more to get the attention of his bizarre neighbour. “I would like to think after all these many years of you annoying me, we’re friends of some sort, so…” Hijikata says, pausing to clear his throat, “I’m here if you want to talk, Takasugi.”

Takasugi promptly barks out a laugh at Hijikata’s seriousness. Hijikata’s eyebrow twitches - he knows the deep, boisterous chuckles laughter is directed at him. But Hijikata doesn’t say anything, letting the laughter die down.

“Who knew the demon vice-chief of the Shinsengumi was such a softie?” Takasugi teases, a small smile appearing on his worn-out face. Hijikata doesn’t want to admit how much relief he feels seeing his crazy neighbour (and friend) acting like his usual self. 

Before Hijikata can (jokingly) argue back, Takasugi interjects, “Well… If I were to tell you about my problems, you might arrest me.” Takasugi calmly inhales once more on the cigarette nestled between his knuckles. 

Alarms set off in his brain. Hijikata whips his head in Takasugi’s direction.“ _HAH_? What the fuck does that mean? What did you do this time, Takasugi? I have the right to arrest you for suspicion of committing a crime!” Hijikata’s voice rising in volume with each word shouted at his placid neighbour. 

Takasugi scoffs.

“Oh fuck off, you uptight cop. What happened to the ‘we’re the best of friends, you can tell me anything as we paint each other’s nails and gossip about boys’ Hijikata just a moment ago?” The purple-haired man jeers as he exhales the cigarette smoke nesting in his lungs. 

“I never said that!” Hijikata exclaims, his cigarette falling out of his mouth as he does so. “I was trying to be nice, you rat bastard!” 

“I don’t need any insincere acts of pity, Hijikata. I thought at least you would have known that,” spats the shorter male as he draws his attention back onto the streets below the pair of males.

Hijikata’s face scowls as he pulls another cigarette stick from the Mayaboro box left in his jacket pocket. “I was genuinely worried over your health, but that’s what I get for caring about someone like you,” he mutters as he presses the cigarette to his lips and lights the tip of the cigarette, sucking in a slow drag. 

The atmosphere has grown exponentially tense - neither men daring to acknowledge the other’s presence. A gust of wind blows which causes Hijikata to shiver into his warm jacket. Hijikata notices the other male doesn’t. Whatever.

Out of the corner of his eye, Takasugi glances at Hijikata who is currently spotting a bitter expression on his face. A barely audible sigh leaves Takasugi’s mouth. There isn’t particularly one specific reason as to why Takasugi says what he says next; maybe it’s from the lack of sleep, maybe it’s the slight guilt he feels accusing Hijikata, or maybe it’s from the stress that has accumulated over the past week due to the radio silence from a certain male - but Takasugi quietly mumbles, “My woman and I had a fight a couple of days ago.”

Both emotionally-constipated males stiffen at Takasugi’s words but for completely different reasons. Takasugi really must be delirious; he would never have said anything to Hijikata if he was in his normal mindstate. He presses his lips into a fine line to hide his embarrassment.

On the other balcony, Hijikata was silently freaking out. A dozen questions were flying through his mind: _Is he talking about the stupid perm head from that night? What happened to the ‘she’s not my woman, we’re just sex friends’? When did they fight? What did they fight about? Does Takasugi know about our exchange? When even was the last time I saw him?_ The obscene dreams Hijikata has had this past week featuring the aforementioned male promptly replays in his mind, causing Hijikata’s heated face to burn more fiercely. His v-shaped bangs flop side to side as Hijikata shakes his head, trying to get rid of those inappropriate thoughts. _Now’s not the time Hijikata, focus!_

Looking over to his neighbour, Hijikata sees that Takasugi has his head down as he fidgets with the eyepatch strings. His eggplant-coloured hair flows softly with the morning breeze. The air has shifted from a tense one to an extremely uncomfortable atmosphere.

Clearly his throat, Hijikata attempts to continue the conversation. “Wh-what happened?” Stutters Hijikata. 

No response.

“Ah…” Hijikata opens his mouth but ends up trailing off, unsure of what to exactly say to comfort his neighbour. There’s an unpleasant silence once again. Hijikata can’t handle the awkwardness any longer and clears his throat again, trying once more to voice his thoughts. “I… met your ‘woman’ a few nights ago, actually,” says Hijikata, before whipping around and blurting out, “Why didn’t you just correct me when I called him _‘your woman_ ’?! Was it too hard to?!” Hijikata’s face reddens even more from the embarrassment of mistaking the male’s moans for a woman’s. 

For the second time this morning, Takasugi ruptures out in laughter due to him not expecting a sudden outburst from the male standing on the other balcony. 

“It was too hilarious to tell you the truth. I wish I could have relished in your shocked face Hijikata,” Takasugi chuckles as he wipes away fake tears. 

Hijikata can feel his blood level rise. Trying to calm his nerves, Hijikata inhales a long drag from the cigarette resting on his lips. 

“So... what do you think of him? Does he pique your interest?” Takasugi probes; his tone is as emotionless and neutral as he can make it. The one-eyed male is slightly curious about his neighbour’s opinion on Gintoki and he doesn’t know why.

The black-haired man begins choking on the cloud of smoke he breathed in, hunching over to try to relax his body. He hadn’t expected that sudden question from his neighbour. When Hijikata’s coughing fit subdues, his head shoots up to object, “What, no! What makes you think that?” _Did that stupid bastard say something to Takasugi?_

Takasugi hums. Almost as if Takasugi had read Hijikata’s thoughts, he replies, “Well, he seems to be quite fond of you Hijikata. Congratulations”--he brings the cigarette to his chapped lips and puffs on it--“I guess you can finally take him off my hands.”

A bitter laugh escapes out of Takasugi along with the tobacco smoke. Hijikata looks away. Honks from the cars below them play between their silence as the two pause to draw on their cigarettes once more.

“If you don’t want him anymore, why don’t you just break it off with him?” Hijikata jabs, shooting the other man a doubtful look. 

As Takasugi tilts his head up to breathe out the smoke from his lungs, he softly says, “I never explicitly said that. It’s just…” He pauses to take a deep breath of the crisp morning air into his lungs.

“We… have a complicated history together. I can’t exactly ‘throw’ him away, you know?” Takasugi turns to look at Hijikata, a small, tender smile placed on his cracked lips.

Hijikata momentarily freezes as his mind instantly conjures the image of Mitsuba from Takasugi’s words. He averts his gaze from his neighbour. Unlike Takasugi, Hijikata did the complete opposite with his relationship involving Mitsuba. Fuck, what an absolute piece of shit Hijikata is. His teeth clench hard around the cigarette. 

Hijikata can feel him lose himself to the thoughts of his failed relationship. His slightly shaky hand removes the crushed cigarette from his mouth to hold it between his fingers. Frankly, Hijikata doesn’t want anything more than to just be alone and lay in his bed to sleep away his worries, but he knows Takasugi needs his company. Or so he would like to believe.

To try to distract himself, Hijikata decides to continue asking the other male (pointless) questions.

“How long have you known him for? This is the first I’ve seen the perm head.” asks Hijikata. He hopes Takasugi hasn’t noticed the shift in his tone; he doesn’t want to put off the male from talking. Especially since this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear Takasugi sound so vulnerable.

He hears Takasugi snicker at the nickname. “We’ve known one another since we were kids.”

“How long have you two been… sleeping together?”

“No need to be so self-conscious Hijikata, it’s just sex. We’ve been on and off since we were teenagers. But recently-” Takasugi hesitates for a brief second, “Never mind. it doesn’t matter.”

Hijikata quickly glances at Takasugi from the corner of his eyes to see how he reacted to his question. The shorter man still appears sane. 

“So all those women and men you’ve brought home before… you were sleeping with them while also sleeping with him?”

There’s a moment of silence. 

“Is this an interrogation or something, Mr. Officer? What’s with all these personal questions, I never knew you were so interested in my relationships.” Takasugi inquires, turning his gaze to the black-haired male. “Or are you just curious because it involves a certain someone?” 

Before Hijikata can refute Takasugi’s accusation, the one-eyed man squishes the remaining cigarette into his ashtray and begins to walk towards his sliding door.

“Oi, you never even told me why the two of you were fighting!” Hijikata yells over to the other male. Takasugi turns around and an indescribable expression is painted on his face. 

“I’m sure you can ask him all about it next time you see him.” 

A humourless chuckle leaves Takasugi while he slugs back inside his apartment.

Hijikata groans to himself, throwing away his cigarette in turn. He needs to rest as well.

_Darkness surrounded Hijikata. He couldn’t see a single thing. But that didn’t stop the male from moving forward. As Hijikata calmly trudged through the darkness, he saw a glowy figure in the distance. He stopped in his tracks. Despite Hijikata being physically incapable of seeing who the cryptic person was, he instinctively knew who it was. Her soft giggles rang in his ears as she got farther and farther away from the stilled male. Hijikata wanted to see her one last time._

_Picking up his pace, Hijikata started running towards her but the more the male ran, the farther she seemed to be. He was getting tired; sweat dripped down his forehead and he was quickly losing stamina. At one last attempt, Hijikata screamed her name out as loud as he could but to no avail, not a single sound left his mouth. His throat burned and his eyes stung._

_However, as if she heard his screams, the mysterious figure turned around. Hiijikata’s heartbeat pounded in his ears as the two stared at one another. It looked like she was waiting for Hijikata._

_With the last amount of energy Hijikata had left in his body, he tried to continue walking towards the glowing figure. But as he approached her, he soon realized that his legs were sinking into the ground. Hijikata started frantically pulling on his legs in an attempt to remove him from the floor but it resulted in his body sinking much quicker._

_So… he just stayed still. Lower and lower Hijikata sank into the floor as he watched the smiling face staring at him convert to one of sadness. She turned back around and continued walking; the emitted light slowly getting smaller and smaller until Hijikata was left in the dark once again._

_Half his body was sunken on the floor before Hijikata heard footsteps approach him. The footsteps stopped in front of the male but he kept his head down. Hijikata knew it wasn’t her; nothing else mattered if it wasn’t her._

_A finger tapped the bottom of his chin and this surprised Hijikata, sending slight shivers down his spine. The finger gently lifted Hijikata’s face up, demanding the male’s attention. He quickly turned his face away from the new stranger; Hijikata didn’t want to deal with any more bullshit. But that’s when Hijikata felt a strong grasp tugging on his chin to forcibly stare straight up._

_Hijikata grunted in pain and squinted his eyes as he was forced to give the stranger all his attention. However, his blood ran cold when he saw what he saw - a pair of glowing red orbs staring deep into his own blue ones._

_Still gripping Hijikata’s chin with such force he was sure it would bruise tomorrow, the other person shuffled closer. Hijikata felt a chill run down his spine as the other’s breath hit against his lips. The paralyzed male was certain that if he moved his head just by the slightest amount, he would be met with the lips of another person. The two continued to gaze into each other’s eyes - Hijikata felt mesmerized staring into such a rich red hue._

_Suddenly the pair of eyes in front of Hijikata vanished and the grip had immensely loosened, but it was still there. Hijikata could have pulled back his head from the gentle grasp but he decided not to. Once again Hijikata was surrounded in darkness, ever so slightly sinking to his demise._

_It was still for a moment, only the soft sounds of Hijikata’s breathing is heard in the atmosphere. Then all of a sudden, the faintest touch of lips grazed over Hijikata’s._

_Hijikata couldn’t believe it - his breath hitched and his eyes widened at the touch. The shocked male tried to scramble away from the stranger but the rapid movement had caused him to sink further into the floor._

_A mischievous snicker rang through the air._

_Fuck._

_He was royally screwed with a weirdo who gets off on kissing strangers._

_There was absolute silence as Hijikata continued sinking deeper into the ground. But Hijikata knew the other person was still lingering around. He attempted to call out to the stranger but not a single response was heard. Only until his shoulders and above were still free did Hijikata see the red orbs again._

_The pair of intense eyes came closer and closer until they were mere centimetres away from his own, just like before. Hijikata’s throat felt dry._

_Gulping down, HIjikata closed his eyes and pressed his lips into a firm line. Hijikata was ready for another assault on his lips, he didn’t want the stranger to get off on his shocked expression._

_Nothing happened._

_Hijikata peeked open an eye. There was nothing staring back at him except darkness. He sighed. Maybe this nightmare will end when Hijikata is completely submerged into the ground._

_A sly laugh echoed around Hijikata. His eyes shot open when he heard it but it was too late. The mysterious person’s breath tickled Hijikata as he whispered into the male’s ear._

_“Don’t be afraid, Oogushi-kun.”_

Hijikata jolts up awake, panting heavily.

_Not again._

A loud groan leaves Hijikata’s body as he recalls what had just occurred. The eye crust crumbles off as he begins rolling his palms over his eyes. What the fuck was that dream? 

He reaches over to unplug his charging phone that he left on the nightstand. The digital clock reads 10:49 a.m. The exhausted man audibly sighs; he roughly got… 3 hours of sleep (if he was being generous). Great.

As Hijikata meticulously checks each new email, a group message appears on the top of his screen.

**Commander Stalker - 11:11 a.m.**

does any1 kno if toshi is still asleep????

**Sadist King - 11:11 a.m.**

Kondou-san just accept the fact that Hijikata-san has died. Bc im so generous im already planning his funeral 

**Commander Stalker - 11:12 a.m.**

SOUGoOO!!!!!! STOP JKING !!!!! i need him to come 2nite so otae-san doesnt think of me as a stalker n as a love inchrest insted !!!!1!!

**Sadist King - 11:12 a.m.**

I think she sees you as more as a gorilla than anything Kondou-san

\--

Hijikata’s eyes squint in irritation as he reads these messages; he never did like their assigned nicknames but Sougo wouldn’t settle for anything less. It also irks him how disrespectful Sougo is to their commander, but he knows he won’t bring it up, he never does.

He sits up on his bed and starts typing away on the keyboard.

**Mayo Freak - 11:14 a.m.**

Hey, you sadistic bastard! I’m not dead so stop telling people that I am.

Anyways… What are you talking about, Kondou-san? What are you planning to do with Otae?

**Commander Stalker - 11:14 a.m.**

toOOSHI!!!!!!1!!111 U R COMIN 2NITE 2 HANG W US U CANNOT REFUSE OK !!???!?? OTAE-SAN WORK PLACE @ 8 2NITE OR ELSE !!111!!!

\--

Hijikata instinctively types out ‘No, thank you.’ but hesitates to send the message. Maybe he should go out tonight instead of staying home alone and overthinking every one of his problems. Maybe he’ll meet a nice girl that will take his mind off the perm head that bothers his sleep for a night. Maybe.

**Mayo Freak - 11:20 a.m.**

Okay, that sounds mildly amusing. Send me the location whenever you have the time, Kondou-san. 

**Sadist King - 11:21 a.m.**

Don’t worry Hijikata-san, I’ll send you the location :).

\--

Hijikata breaks out in a cold sweat from Sougo’s reply. He doesn’t completely trust the sadist’s words, but Hijikata won’t argue and instead indulge the younger male’s cruel tendencies (like every other time) out of his own guilt for breaking his sister’s heart. 

Hijikata’s exhausted, both mentally and physically. 

There’s still a few hours before Hijikata needs to head out; maybe he can get some chores done and squeeze in a quick nap. As Hijikata climbs off his bed, a ding noise chimes from his phone. He grabs the device and sees another message sent in the group chat.

**ANPANANPANANPANANPANANPANANPANANPANANPAN - 11:29 a.m.**

Hey, everyone! What’s going on tonight? :D

\--

Nobody messages back.

* * *

Sucking down on his fourth bottle of mayonnaise of the day, Hijikata lays on his couch staring at particularly nothing as he tries to pass away the time before meeting his friends. The mayonnaise lover has been bored all day; Hijikata has done all his chores, ranging from doing his laundry after almost two weeks of no fresh clothes to dusting and mopping every nook and cranny of his whole apartment. The male even popped in ‘My Neighbour Hedoro’ in his DVD player to see if he still enjoyed it like he used to - he didn’t. When he tried to sleep, his thoughts wouldn’t let him rest. 

That means he was left alone with his thoughts for hours on end.

A show about a psychic boy and his con-man mentor is playing on Hijikata's living room T.V but the exhausted male is too distracted to focus on the plot. Hijikata’s anxiousness continues to increase as he thinks about tonight - why did he agree to this plan? He could’ve stayed home instead of bothering the poor girl that has (unfortunately) captured his commander’s heart. A loud sigh can be heard through his apartment despite the noise from the T.V program as Hijikata’s mind drifts to the aforementioned girl. 

A couple of days ago while Hijikata was patrolling around town, he spotted Kondou’s love holding hands with someone else. They were wearing an eyepatch over their left eye which reminded Hijikata of his short neighbour. They looked happy together. But that left Hijikata unsure of how to approach Kondou with this sort of news. This problem has been racking Hijikata’s mind on top of many other things over the past few days.

A ding from his phone breaks Hijikata out of his thoughts, drawing his attention to the notification. Picking his phone off the coffee table, he sees his screen highlight with a message from Sougo. 

**Sadist King - 5:47 p.m.**

Hijikata-san are you there

**Mayo Freak - 5:47 p.m.**

What do you want, Sougo?

**Sadist King - 5:48 p.m.**

Drat i thought you had died in your sleep. 

**Mayo Freak - 5:49 p.m.**

… 

What do you want, Sougo?

**Sadist King - 5:49 p.m.**

So mean die Hijikataaa

**Sadist King - 5:51 p.m.**

[Sadist King has sent an attachment]

That’s the address for tonight

Can’t wait to see you there :).

\--

Hijikata doesn’t bother interpreting the sadist’s ominous last message. He reads the address once more - something feels off about it but the restless man can’t quite put his finger on why. Hijikata doesn’t have the energy to care either; he’ll just ignore the blatant warning signs and start getting ready to head out. 

He quickly empties the remains of the mayonnaise bottle into his mouth and trudges into his bathroom to take a quick shower before getting dressed. Stripping his pajamas off and hopping into the shower, Hijikata immediately turns the shower knob to the ‘hot’ option. His taut muscles promptly start to relax as the hot water hits his skin, an audible sigh leaving his lips. The steam from the hot water starts to cloud over the bathroom; the mirror is completely fogged up by the time Hijikata finishes. Closing the shower off, he steps out and hastily grabs the navy bath towel hanging on the towel rack to wrap around his lower waist. Water droplets hit the ceramic floor as Hijikata strides from the bathroom to his bedroom.

A black-coloured body mirror stands in a corner of his bedroom. Walking towards it, he stares at his reflection; Hijikata can (privately) admit he has an appealing body: his chest is well-built, he has strong and slightly muscular arms, and he has extremely toned legs. Years of working out and eating healthy (aside from the abundance of mayonnaise ingested) have given Hijikata this body type, so why shouldn’t he be proud?

A light blush creeps onto his cheeks as Hijikata realizes how long he was admiring himself in front of the mirror. He really needs to get going so he won’t be late for Kondou’s plans. The almost-naked male walks over to his folded laundry and immediately ruffles through them until he picks out a grey turtleneck that accentuates his broad shoulders and wide chest. Hijikata then picks out a pair of black dress pants that he knows goes well with the grey sweater. 

He also selects a checkered-patterned pair of boxers. Normally, Hijikata would have gone for the boxers with a mayonnaise bottle design but if he were to pick up a woman, he didn’t want to waste time explaining his _unique_ interest to them. He just needed a quick lay. Hijikata cringes to himself at that thought - when did he start sounding so gross? 

A certain perm head that Hijikata refuses to acknowledge is the root of all his problems.

As he rips off the towel and he starts throwing on his clothes, Hijikata notices a gold square-buckle belt that he purchased a few months ago that he never got the chance to wear hanging on his closet door. Grabbing simple black ankle-high socks, Hijikata slides both the belt and socks on and walks back to the mirror to check his appearance; he comes to the realization that there’s still something that is missing from his outfit. When Hijikata approaches his nightstand, he pulls out the drawer and shuffles through it until he finds the item he’s been looking for. The gold chain pinched in his fingertips glistens as Hijikata pulls it into view. The male doesn’t typically wear jewellery but he knows how much more attractive it makes him look; that’s what Mitsuba said when she gifted him the necklace for his birthday. Hijikata notes how low it is to use this special gift to seduce someone but he’s gotten a tad desperate.

Hijikata feels good and looks good as well. As cocky as he knows it sounds, Hijikata will definitely attract lots of attention and it’s highly likely that he’ll go home with a girl tonight. Hijikata can finally stop having those ambiguous dreams with a perm head. 

It’s a quarter past 6. When he inserts the address on the chauffeur app, it reads that it’ll be approximately a 45-minute drive. Hijikata slightly pauses - he never realized that the place Otae worked at was so far away from his apartment. He had never gone willingly so Hijikata just brushes off the confusion he feels. If he leaves now, Hijikata will be an hour early - that’s perfect for him.

While waiting for the assigned driver, a gust of wind bangs against the glass sliding door, slightly startling the male. He didn’t realize how cold it was tonight. The anxious male hurriedly goes to grab the red cashmere scarf he left on the sofa and wraps it around his neck, snuggling into it. Hijikata hates the cold. 

As Hijikata returns to the empty kitchen chair, he can feel himself melt into the warmth; there are sudden heavy weights attached to his eyelids and the male can’t keep them open. 

Hijikata’s phone buzzes in his pocket which break him out of his doze. His driver had notified Hijikata that they were in the front of the apartment complex waiting. Swiftly throwing on his gold-buckled jacket and black dress shoes, he heads out.

Hijikata could kill someone. Someone specifically named Sougo. Outside stood Hijikata in front of an okama club instead of the usual cabaret club where Otae works at. An intense, flashing sign above the business that reads “Kambakko Club” burned Hijikata’s irises, forcing him to look away. 

_Maybe she quit her job as a hostess at the cabaret club and now works here as a janitor? Or maybe she got kidnapped and is hidden away inside and it’s my duty as an officer to rescue her?_

Hijikata tries to draw up any possible reasons that could explain why he was standing in front of an okama club but all kept leading to one single answer - Sougo’s just an asshole. Holding his face in his hands, he squats down and starts screaming into his palms, trying his best to muffle the anguishing sounds. This is what Hijikata deserves for not doubting the sadist bastard’s intentions. Strangers give Hijikata perplexed looks as they walk around his squatted body. 

After Hijikata finishes his screaming fit, he lifts his head from his hands and pushes himself back up by his knees. 

_Just maybe, just maybe I’m not getting punk’d._

Clinging onto this false hope, Hijikata convinces himself to walk into the okama club to see if any of his friends are here. As he pushes open the heavy door, Hijikata’s senses are immediately bombarded with loud music and bright lights. A man in heavy makeup wearing a baby blue kimono embellished with a yellow hibiscus design welcomes the overwhelmed male. 

“Welcome, handsome! What’s a good-looking hunk like you doing here?”

Hijikata rubs his eyes with his fists in an attempt to get adjusted to the shining lights. He looks over to the greeter who flashes Hijikata a warm grin. He returns a stiff smile.

“Tonight’s theme is the Edo period, do you have a particular hostess in mind that you want to sit with?” The greeter questions, giggling behind their manicured hand as they notice Hijikata’s blank face contort to one full of embarassment.

“Uh…”

“Don’t be shy now, you’re already inside! That’s the biggest step!”

“I was just checking to see if any of my friends have arrived yet.”

“Oh! In that case, you can just walk right in sweetie! Do you need me to accompany you?”

“Ah, no… I’m okay, thank you.”

“Handsome and polite! All the girls here would absolutely love you, so don’t be afraid to ask for someone. My name’s Minato Takahashi if you were wondering, teehee!”

_Did they really say teehee out loud…_

Hijikata awkwardly gives his thanks once again and hastily bows his head before walking away from the worker Stepping into the main room of the establishment, Hijikata stands in the middle of the entrance as he starts to scan the room for any sadists or gori- his commander. But what he saw was much more shocking than anything he could have thought of. 

“You can’t be fucking serious…” Hijikata quietly whispers underneath his breath to no one in particular.

On the other side of the room stood Takasugi’s sex friend. The male has his back turned to Hijikata while he talks to a guest but Hijikata knew instantly it was the man that has been haunting his dreams by his dumb, wavy locks. Two pigtails attached to the male’s head swing around as he shakes his head. He’s wearing a light pink kimono with only a few sakura flowers scattered on it that is wrapped in a simple red obi. 

Hijikata gulps down hard. The room starts to close in on Hijikata as he continues to stare at the backside of the male’s figure. Sweat beads start traveling down the side of his head as Hijikata starts to heat up from wearing too many layers of clothing and the complete despair he feels. The blaring music is slowly drowned out by Hijikata’s roaring heartbeat until that’s the only thing he hears. Hijikata wants to leave but his feet won’t move; it’s as if there are anchors attached to his ankles, forbidding him from running away. 

All of a sudden, a hand shoots out from behind the kimono-adorning male and grabs a handful of his perky ass. The hand squeezes the fat. 

This breaks Hijikata out of his shocked state. 

His legs instinctively rush towards the pair but when Hijikata reaches the two, he sees the assaulter on the ground with his shirt fisted in the other’s strong hands. With a knee planted firmly against the assaulter’s chest, the silver-haired man raises a shaking fist and swings at the customer’s face. 

“Oi, it’s not worth it, perm head.”

Hijikata’s holding the clenched fist against his hand, effectively stopping the male from hurting the other man laid out on the floor. He peers over to the angry male but he is still glaring downwards at the old man. Without taking his gaze off the assaulter, the perm head eventually relaxes his fist and lowers it while also freeing his grip on the assaulter’s shirt. Hijikata also releases his grasp on the male’s hand.

“Don’t fucking touch me again, you disgusting old man,” growls the perm head as he crawls off the customer. Hijikata doesn’t mention how violently shaking the other’s body is. 

“What the fuck is your problem, isn’t this part of your job? Fucking whore,” the customer dastardly spats, slurring his words as he tries to slide his torso up onto the seat. He’s obviously drunk. 

Before the dressed-up male can yell something back, Hijikata angrily interjects, “You can’t go around touching workers inappropriately like what you’re doing. Do you have any common decency or respect?”

Both men finally acknowledge Hijikata’s presence, turning to him with extremely exaggerated confused faces. Hijikata feels embarrassed - maybe he shouldn’t have interfered at all. He breaks out into another sweat as the realization of everyone’s attention focused on the conundrum dawns on the male. 

A pin dropping can be heard from how dead quiet it was. Even the deafening music playing earlier had been cut. 

The drunk older male is the first to break the silence, suddenly yelling, “Who the fuck are you, huh? Are you this slut’s boyfriend or something?” 

Hijikata freezes at the accusation. Like always, inappropriate memories flash through Hijikata’s mind at inappropriate times. He can feel his face flush as he reminisces his obscure dreams that feature the man that is standing only a few feet away.

“He’s-”

“Yea, he is. You’re _sooo_ lucky that my boyfriend here stopped me from beating your old ass,” the perm head interrupts, his voice dripping with smugness as he wraps his arm around Hijikata’s waist, effectively pulling the black-haired male close to his firm chest. 

Hijikata’s mind is completely blank. He can barely register being called the other male’s ‘boyfriend’, only focusing on the other male’s strong arms wrapped around his body. If the perm head can feel how rapid Hijikata’s heart is beating, he doesn’t comment on it. 

“Oh really? What can your little boyfriend do against a real man?”

That catches Hijikata’s attention. 

“I could arrest you for sexual assault.”

Both men halt at Hijikata’s words and whip their heads to look at him. The wavy-haired male releases his hold on Hijikata. 

“You’re a fucking cop?” “No way my boyfriend is a boot kicker… oh my God…” Both males mutter under their breath. Their faces turn pale as they turn away to absorb this newfound information.

Hijikata is at a loss of words once again. _What do these guys want from him?!_

“Well, your man-lady boyfriend was the one who laid hands on me first! I could charge him for assault!” The older man protests.

The dressed-up male sticks his tongue out as he jeers, “Do it, grandpa!”

As the two males continue yelling at each other, a shadowy figure looms over the group. Hijikata turns around, bumping against a very broad chest. He looks up to the mysterious stranger and sees a man with thick eyebrows and a 5 o’clock shadow with orange eyeshadow that matches their lipstick and kimono. Their long grey hair sways in the room’s breeze as their gaze is fixated on the pair of men tumbling on the ground who were currently hollering obscene things at one another. 

“You two are disrupting the other guests. I’m going to have to ask you both to leave.”

Both their heads shoot up at those spoken words and immediately start pointing at one another, shouting, “He started it first!” Their heads whip away once again to glare at one another. The manager sighs, walking over to the silver-haired male and grabbing their entire head with one large hand. The sudden grip earns a high-pitched squeal from the male as his whole body is swiftly thrown off the customer. 

Hijikata quickly rushes over to catch the perm head, his back successfully thumping against Hijikata’s chest. As they both recover their footing, Hijikata looks up and sees the middle-aged man’s balding head in the manager’s other hand with his entire body completely hanging off the floor.

“Let me go!” the drunken customer shrieks, legs flailing at the attempt of hitting the larger person. He grabs at the giant hand around his head to try to pry off but it was to no avail.

Everyone is as quiet as mice as they watch the manager carry the screaming man out of the club. 

When they return inside, their face is stone-cold. Hijikata feels a chill run down his spine as he watches the abnormally large person heavily stomp towards him with a flounce. 

“Paako! Come here!” Their voice thunders as they grab the male that was resting against Hijikata’s chest (Hijikata didn’t even notice he was still holding the perm head) and stares at Paako’s panicked face before smashing their forehead against the other’s. The perm head yelps out from the pain. 

“Ah, ah, why’d you do that Saigou? That really hurt Paako-chan,” Paako (that’s his name, seriously?) wails, rubbing his forehead with his hand and jutting out his bottom lip. _“HUUH_? Is that blood on my fingers? Oi Saigou, is this how you treat your workers? I can sue you, you know!” The seemingly-injured male cries out before he’s answered with another head butt. 

Hijikata slightly winces as he watches Paako fall back onto the floor. His hands are placed on his forehead as he rolls around, crying out, “What was _that_ for?? That hurt so much, I’m never coming back here again!” The male whimpers as he continues to roll on the floor. 

“Go home, Paako. You’ve been in an agitated state this whole shift. I can’t have you beating up any more customers,” nags Saigou. They quickly turn around to Hijikata, pointing at him as they do so. “You! Take your boyfriend home, treat him to a nice bubble bath and make sure he gets a good night’s rest.”

Hijikata’s face heats up once again at the term ‘boyfriend’. “We’re not actual-” Hijikata tries to correct Saigou, but fails miserably. In a blink of an eye, Saigou grabs Hijikata and the injured man by the back of their collars with ease and starts heading towards the exit. 

“Hijikata-san,” a monotone voice drawls out. Hijikata whips his head to the direction of the voice and sees Sougo holding out a phone pointed directly at him. With its flash on.

“Sougo, you bastard! What the fuck are you doing!”

“What else do you think I’m doing Hijikata-san? I’m recording this for blackmail.”

“Sougo!!” Hijikata screams out as he gets dragged farther away from the sadist.

“Say hi to your boyfriend for me when you go die Hijikata-san.”

Saigou kicks open the front entrance and tosses the pair up in the air. They both land on their asses. “Thank you for visiting, come back soon!” Saigou bellows as they walk back into their shop.

_What a night._

Hijikata eventually stands up and dusts himself off. His mind races at various scenarios of what Sougo would do with that video of him. He groans inwardly; that’s a problem for another day. 

A gust of wind blows, causing Hijikata’s body to shiver into his scarf. He tugs his opened jacket closed to conserve any body heat. 

Hijikata glances in the direction of Paako.

The other male is still on the floor, hands on his lap and his head completely down. He looks defeated. Hijikata isn’t sure what to say, so he takes out a Mayaboro box and pulls out a cigarette. Lighting it up, Hijikata sneaks another peek at the male - he still hasn’t moved at all. 

“Oi, do you want one Paako?”

Paako doesn’t move at first but eventually, he slowly lifts his head up. Hijikata sees a tight smile on the other’s face. A quiet chuckle leaves his lips as he stares up at Hijikata with an exhausted expression. 

“Idiot, why are you laughing?”

“Cause you think my name is Paako.”

Hijikata slightly chokes on his cigarette. The mysterious man laughs a tad bit louder. 

“How was I supposed to know?! You never told me your name in the first place!” Hijikata barks out as he attempts to hide his heated face by bringing his hand up for another drag.

“Aw, is Oogushi-kun curious about my name?” Not-Paako teases, his mood doing a complete 180. Tilting his head to the side, his conserved smile converts to a full shit-eating grin. 

Hijikata feels like his face is on fire. 

“What the fu- of course not! And stop calling me Oogushi-kun!” Hijikata stammers out. He really hopes the darkness from the night is masking his tomato-red face.

“Well, Oogushi-kun has never graced me with his name so I had to think of something else. Which by the way…” he trails out as his eyes travel up and down Hijikata’s body, blatantly checking him out. Hijikata feels self-conscious.

His eyes flick back up to Hijikata. The blood-red irises bore into Hijikata’s soul and as if they were wordlessly beckoning the black-haired male to walk over to him, Hijikata did exactly that. Their gazes don’t leave one another as Hijikata stands over the man that is still sitting on the sidewalk. 

The cool autumn wind gently blows against the two; the male’s twin pigtails sway softly with the breeze. Getting a closer look at the other’s face, Hijikata notes that he’s much more attractive in real life compared to the one in his dreams. Especially his vibrant red eyes.

_Shit._

Hijikata’s feels more restless than ever - the male staring back at him is absolutely breathtaking. The makeup he is adorning tonight is astounding: the sharp red cat eyeliner bringing out the colour of his dead-fish eyes, the light pink glittery eyeshadow that matches his kimono, the highlight accentuating all his sharp features, and the sparkling pink lip gloss painting his plump lips. 

Hijikata briefly wonders if this idiot really is capable of such craft and beauty. He must have gotten someone to do his makeup, surely.

“Like what you see?” The male quips, a cocky smirk placed on his painted face. Hijikata freezes - he’s unsure on whether he should tell the truth which would ultimately boost the bastard’s ego or lie, going completely against his morals.

He doesn’t say anything.

“ _Pffft,_ I know I’m very attractive that it stunned you beyond belief, but a response would be nice,” not-Paako states, his pompous face dropping as he picks his nose to flick a booger at the nicotine lover. Hijikata deadpans - _what an absolute dumbass_. Hijikata can’t believe that for a moment he thought the other male was ethereal. He wipes his cheek with the back of his hand, scoffing as he does so.

“Tsk, tsk, don’t act like you weren’t staring Oogushi-kun. I know how beautiful I look tonight,” gloats the glamoured-up male, placing his chin in his hands in an attempt to display his face. Hijikata rolls his eyes and takes out another cigarette to ignite. 

“You? No fucking way. You wish, stupid perm head,” Hijikata grunts as he inhales on the lit cigarette. He lifts his head up to avoid blowing the smoke in the other male’s face.

“Wow, you just don’t listen, do you? Didn’t I tell you before that smoking was bad for you?” 

From the corner of his eyes, Hijikata looks down at the man, taking a long drag as he does so. He gives Hijikata a smug grin. Hijikata can feel his eyebrow involuntarily twitch out of irritation. Once again, Hijikata looks away and exhales. The sitting male clicks his tongue and finally turns his head away as well.

The sounds of the nightlife drown out the comfortable silence between the two. The wavy-haired male stretches his body before hunching over to fiddle with his glued-on fake pink nails. 

“Fuck, I really hope Saigou isn’t cutting my pay. I really need the money,” he tiredly exhales under his breath. A hand reaches around to scratch the backside of his head.

This piques Hijikata’s interest; he is very curious on what the other man exactly does for a living. He taps off the built-up ash to the side to make sure it doesn’t land on the person sitting below him. “Is this your everyday job?”

He snorts. “No, no. I do a variety of odd jobs here and there, and everything in between.” 

There’s a brief pause as they both take the information that was just said. Hijikata awkwardly coughs into his fist.

“Not that, you pervert.”

“I didn’t even say anything!”

“I can tell what you’re thinking, pervert.”

“You’re the weird and shady one, bastard.”

The other male exasperatedly gasps. “Wha- I’ll have you know I run a legitimate business, I even employ two kids to help me out.”

“That… really doesn’t help your case…” Hijikata trails off, not entirely sure how to continue this conversation. “So what? You’re a Yorozuya or something?” 

“Yes exactly! See, my job isn’t so weird after all, stupid V-bangs.”

“...Did you just give me another nickname? Seriously?”

“So what if I did, what are you gonna do about it? 0-2. Hurry up before it gets to 0-3 Oogushi-kun.”

“Fuck off… Yorozuya….” Hijikata awkwardly mumbles out the last part. 

The male erupts in laughter. “What did you just say? _Yorozuya_? Is that the best you could think of?”

“Stop laughing, it’s not that funny,” snaps Hijikata. The annoyed male isn’t sure why he’s even playing into the other’s game but there’s no taking it back now.

The male laughs even louder. “That’s the most half-ass name I ever heard someone call me,” he snickers amusingly. He slides down further onto the ground until only his head is rested on Hijikata’s dress shoes with the rest of his body sprawled out on the pavement. A breathless chuckle leaves his glossy lips as he watches Hijikata’s face contort into one of confusion and annoyance. 

“Get off the floor, Yorozuya. It’s dirty and you look like a mess,” Hijikata complains, lifting his shoe up lightly to bounce the male’s head but not enough strength to hurt him. 

“You’re really gonna stick with that name? Why not something cooler like… Ah, I don’t know. But something else, not that. I gave you such cool nicknames too.”

“You think ‘Oogushi-kun’ and ‘V-bangs’ are cool? Tch, you have such weird tastes,” Hijikata breathes out, exhaling the smoke in his lungs. “You haven’t tried telling me your name either, you know? Stupid Yorozuya.”

It’s quiet as they stare at each other. 

“It’s Gintoki.”

“Did you say something Yorozuya? I can’t hear you when you whisper under your breath like that.”

“I said my name is Gintoki,” the male exclaims. 

_Oh._ Hijikata honestly didn’t expect that response. 

“Heeey, Oogushi-kun. I just shared my biggest secret with you, you can’t just leave me hanging like this,” he suddenly groans, reaching over his head to grab at Hijikata’s calves. Gintoki starts violently shaking his legs, which almost makes Hijikata lose balance and fall right on top of the other male.

“Stop that idiot! You’re gonna tip me over.”

“Then answer my question, mutt!”

“Jesus, okay! It’s Toushirou Hijikata. Are you happy, you sadistic bastard?”

Gintoki stops shaking Hijikata, lifting his body off from the floor to sit back upright. He’s grumbling something underneath his breath that is too quiet for Hijikata to pick up on. Suddenly, Gintoki’s head perks up and he slams his hand against his palm, motioning that he came up with an idea ~~(probably something idiotic)~~.

“I like Oogushi-kun more. Hijikata is too boring sounding.”

_What?!_

“ _Excuse me?_ What is that supposed to mean? Who asked for your opinion anyway?” Barks out Hijikata, overly insulted over what Gintoki said. The other simply giggles in response which raises Hijikata’s anger higher. Two can play that game.

“Like your name is better… what were your parents even thinking of naming their stupid kid after their hair colour?” Hijikata says in retaliation to Gintoki's comment. 

Hijikata thought his tone held no malice but when he noticed Gintoki tense up, he instantly regretted what he said. 

“Hey, I was jo-”

“I need to forget about tonight. You wanna join me for drinks and some pachinko?” Gintoki interrupts as he slowly starts to get up from the floor. Dusting the dirt off his kimono, he looks at Hijikata expectedly, waiting for an answer.

Hijikata isn’t sure how to handle the sudden change in Gintoki’s mood, but he knows he should act like everything is normal. “I’ll take a rain check on that, Yorozuya. I have an early shift tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah! My boyfriend is a dirty cop, I completely forgot.”

“Cut it out with the whole 'calling me your boyfriend' shtick.”

“Why does it matter? It’s not like you’re taken if you came here tonight dressed like this,” Gintoki states, motioning at Hijikata’s outfit. Hijikata’s face heats up from the embarrassment of being caught red-handed. 

“It’s not—”

Gintoki steps closer to Hijikata

“‘It’s not’ what? Please indulge Gin-san on why you’re so dressed up if it’s not to get laid tonight,” Gintoki whispers as he steps even closer, completely invading Hijikata’s personal space. A mischievous smirk spreads on Gintoki’s face. 

“I…” 

_Dadadadadadadadada_

_dadadadadadadadada_

_pipipipipipipipipipi_

_dadadadadadada_

_don don pipipi_

_If I could do this, wouldn’t it be nice?_

_I’ve got lots of dreams but he makes them all come true with his mysterious pocket_

A bad parody of Doraemon’s theme song loudly rings between the two, effectively breaking Gintoki from Hijikata as he steps away to dig into his kimono for his cell phone. The male’s face drops as he reads the name on the screen. 

“Yorozuya?”

“I have to answer this call. So…yeah…” he trails off. Gintoki awkwardly clears his throat. 

“Uh…sure. Go ahead and pick it up, you’re leaving them waiting, dumb perm,” Hijikata says, scratching the backside of his hair. 

Gintoki lets out a small chuckle before he walks away. Hijikata steps out the ignited cigarette bud before taking out a new one. Slipping it between his lips, he pauses for a moment before he lights it. His eyes flicker up towards the other male when Gintoki’s voice suddenly raises. 

“Are you insane?” Gintoki angrily yells into the phone, completely forgetting his surroundings for a second. His eyes quickly dart over to Hijikata but the male has already averted his eyes. 

Hijikata doesn’t need to ask to know who’s on the other side of the call. 

He sighs before lighting the stick in his mouth. A few quick puffs have the cigarette tip glowing red. He walks up to Kambakko Club and leans on the building wall to give his exhausted body a little rest. He continues to smoke the cigarette as Gintoki angrily whispers into the phone, occasionally glancing back at Hijikata.

The nicotine addict isn’t quite sure why he’s still out - Hijikata could have left so long ago and be sound asleep as he speaks. He shuts his eyes to focus on the smooth feeling the nicotine is giving to his body. 

“Didn’t you read the sign? There’s no loitering allowed here Oogushi-kun. I should call your friends on you.”

Hijikata’s eyes snapped open only to be met with red orbs. Startled, the cigarette in his mouth falls to the floor as he jumps back, only to be met with a hard brick wall. Gintoki spits out a laugh at Hijikata’s reaction as he steps back from the male to give him space. 

“Stop laughing, bastard.”

“I can’t, you’re just too fun to tease Oogushi-kun,” he hums. “Do you know you blush like a little schoolgirl? It’s very cute,” gleams Gintoki. 

Hijikata is reminded too much of his crazy neighbour.

“Shut up,” huffs Hijikata, shoving a hand on Gintoki’s face in the attempt to cover his sight so he wouldn’t be able to see Hijikata’s beet-red face.

“Yea, yea, whatever you say,” he sing-songs between Hijikata's fingers. Gintoki grabs Hijikata’s wrist to remove the calloused hand planted on his face. Slightly waving it around, Gintoki asks, “Ready to go home together?”

_What._

“What.”

“Don’t take it so literally, cherry-boy,” snickers Gintoki, dropping his grip on Hijikata’s wrist to walk towards the street to try to flag down a taxi. His pleasant facial expression turns to one of confusion ( ~~and hurt?~~ ). “Bakasugi wants to meet up to talk. About stuff and shit,” the last part is hardly audible that Hijikata barely picks up on it.

“Oh…right.” Hijikata feels a sudden pang in his chest; the exhaustion from the past week and tonight must have finally hit him. Yeah, that must be the reason why. 

Clearing his throat, Hijikata starts to walk towards Gintoki. “I’m guessing the two of you made up? Takasugi mentioned that you guys got into a fight of some sort,” Hijikata stiffly asks; he’ll be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit curious. He glances at the male beside him and sees the very faint bruises on his neck. Somehow Hijikata has a feeling that the marks weren’t made with love. 

A hand shoots up at an attempt to cover his neck as Gintoki notices Hijikata staring. It’s awkward again. Scratching the backside of his neck, Gintoki groans, “Is that what he said? Tch, I’m honestly surprised he told you. Emo lord never talks about shit.”

Hijikata doesn’t respond - he doesn’t know how to respond. 

Both males turn away from one another, staring onto either side of the street to look for any oncoming cabs.

Despite Gintoki only being a few steps away from him, Hijikata felt as if the man before him was worlds apart. The troubled male isn’t sure how to act around Gintoki, especially in regards to Takasugi. Hijikata has a vague idea on what occurred between the two, given the few hints he’s collected throughout the day. 

“Why is the police mutt so quiet? Don’t worry, Gin-san will pay half for the cab fare. It’s only fair.”

_That’s not the reason, idiot._

“Tch, it’s fine. I know you’re broke, you probably can’t afford it anyway.” 

“Oh thank God.”

The two men stand silently once again. When Hijikata glances to the side at Gintoki, he notices the perm head is slightly shivering in his kimono. Hijikata suddenly feels like a fool - they’ve been out in the cold for nearly an hour and he highly doubts the idiot is warm in that thin clothing. Taking off his red scarf, he attempts to wrap it around the male’s neck but Gintoki jumps at the slight touch of Hijikata’s fingertips on his neck.

Both of their eyes widen. 

“Sor—“ “Shi—“ they both pause as they don’t want to interrupt each other. Hijikata sighs. “I didn’t mean to scare you.. I just thought you might be cold after all this time.”

There’s silence between the two before Gintoki forms another shit-eating grin on his face.

“You’re really playing into the boyfriend role, aren’t you,” he sneers behind his hand.

The male rolls his eyes. “Oh my God, do you ever shut up?” 

Hijikata tries to retract the scarf but Gintoki quickly snatches it out of his hands, wrapping it around his neck and snuggling into it. He takes a long whiff of the scarf. Gintoki’s eyes squint at the scent, quickly retracting his nose away from the scarf. 

“Ew, it smells like cigarettes… and eggs? What the fuck, why is there an eggy smell to this?” Gintoki pretends to retch as he plugs his nose and attempts to wave away the smell.

“Idiot, that’s the smell of mayonnaise.”

“EW, that’s even worse! Did you dip this in mayo or something?? The smell is so putrid.”

“Bastard, if you don’t like it then give it back.”

“NO! No takesy-backsies, Oogushi-kun.”

“... You’re a child.”

Gintoki sticks his tongue out in response to Hijikata’s comment before burying his face deeper into the scarf for warmth.

It’s dead quiet between them once again.

Turning to face Gintoki, Hijikata attempts to apologize for earlier. “Hey, so—“

The male gets cut off from his apology again when a taxi suddenly pulls up and becks them inside. Without looking back at Hijikata, Gintoki steps inside and plops down onto the black leather seats. With no other choice, Hijikata climbs into the backseat of the cab as well. 

Hijikata gives the cab driver his address and she starts to drive. The driver turns on the radio to mask the engine’s roars. A mellow R&B song plays in the air and Hijikata stifles a yawn - he’s very, very exhausted. As his eyes start to shut, a sudden weight plops onto Hijikata’s shoulder, breaking him out of his dozy state. He turns to see Gintoki resting his head on his shoulder. The black-haired male’s body stiffens. Alarms start blaring in his head as Hijikata continues to stare at the male’s resting face. 

Before Hijikata can protest, the tired male interjects. “Let me rest my head, Oogushi-kun, it’s been a long week for poor Gin-san,” he quietly mumbles, shifting around trying to find a more comfortable position on Hijikata’s shoulder. 

What a moron. 

Scoffing at the other male, Hijikata hesitantly wraps an arm around Gintoki to allow him more room. Gintoki shuffles closer and softly hums as he snuggles his head into Hijikata. 

Hijikata prays the resting male can’t hear his racing heartbeat or feel how sweaty the palm is that’s placed on his shoulder.

Only a few moments pass before Hijikata starts to hear faint snoring to his side. Hijikata lets out a long sigh. Attempting to distract himself from the snoring male, Hijikata strains his neck to look out the window. A blur of neon lights paints the nightlife patrons as Hijikata drives past them. There’s nothing particularly interesting outside. 

A groan leaves the irritated male as his eyebrows start deeply furrowing into his face. Maybe he should try to sleep as well. Bringing his free hand up to his face, Hijikata tries to relax his muscles by massaging it. A loud snort suddenly comes out of Gintoki, which draws Hijikata’s attention.

Tilting his head ever so slightly to glimpse at Gintoki, Hijikata sees a small trail of drool dripping out of Gintoki’s glossy lips. His long, dark eyelashes flutter against his cheeks as he continues to sleep. A pigtail gently sways in motion with the driving, lightly hitting against Gintoki’s cheek every so often. Hijikata can feel his hardened expression soften at the sight of Gintoki. Without much thought, Hijikata brings a hand up to brush away the hair and attempts to tuck the large strand behind their ear. It’s unsuccessful however as the hair instantly bounces off and smacks against his cheek. A breathless chuckle leaves Hijikata as he sees Gintoki’s face scrunch up. 

Using his thumb, Hijikata gently wipes the drool from the corner of Gintoki’s mouth. A barely audible whimper escapes Gintoki at the touch. Hijikata stills, completely breaking out of this bizarre trance. 

_What the fuck am I doing?_

As he quickly wipes the saliva on Gintoki’s kimono, Hijikata’s eyes flicker up, and is met with a pair of eyes staring at him through the rearview mirror. His hand immediately retracts just as fast as the driver’s eyes dart away from the pair. The driver turns up the volume on the radio and keeps her eyes fixated on the road. 

He’ll survive if he jumped out of the car, wouldn’t he? 

Staring out the window, Hijikata contemplates this idea for a brief moment. However, it becomes a fleeting thought when the male sleeping on his shoulder shifts closer to Hijikata, nuzzling right into the crook of his neck. The wavy hair tickles Hijikata’s neck which has the male exhaustedly sighing. 

Hijikata gives up.

Leaning his head back, he closes his eyes. Hijikata eventually falls asleep to the sound of Gintoki’s breathing and the music blasting from the car radio.

* * *

“Excuse me but we’ve arrived at the destination.”

A gentle tap awakens Hijikata. As he blinks his eyes awake, Hijikata realizes he’s resting on something fluffy. Something fluffy like a certain man’s wavy hair. 

Jolting up, his shoulder knocks against Gintoki’s head, waking the male up as well. 

“Wha-what‘s happening?” Gintoki mumbles, wiping off the dried drool from his chin.

“We’re here Yorozuya.” 

Hijikata fishes his wallet out from his pockets and pulls out a couple of bills, handing it over to the cab driver. 

“Keep the change, thanks. Have a great night,” quickly mutters Hijikata to the driver before getting out of the taxi. He waits for Gintoki to get out as well before he shuts the cab door. As the taxi drives off, the pair of men start stretching their taut muscles. 

“What a great nap. You make a good pillow, Oogushi-kun,” muses Gintoki, arms raised up high before he bends his body in half to touch his toes. “Who knew my boyfriend was hot, attentive, _and_ rich? The complete package,” he teases as he angles his head to stare up at Hijikata.

Hijikata stops rolling his head and looks down at Gintoki and the smug grin plastered on the other’s face. “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” He scoffs before playfully kneeing Gintoki right in the ass. A loud shriek leaves Gintoki as he loses his footing, almost falling over before Hijikata reaches over to grab his arm to keep him stable. 

Whipping his head, Gintoki is ready to glare at the other male but his face softens at the sight of a laughing Hijikata.

“My bad Yorozuya. I didn’t think you would actually fall over,” Hijikata loudly chuckles.

Gintoki doesn’t believe he has ever heard Hijikata laugh. It’s nice and warm.

“I almost died just then Oogushi-kun, and you’re here laughing?”—He begins smacking Hijikata’s hand that’s still grasped around his arm—“what’s with people being abusive to poor Gin-san these days…” he loudly grumbles. 

Hijikata abruptly stops laughing and releases his grip on Gintoki. There’s visible confusion on Gintoki’s face as Hijikata turns away from his gaze. 

“Are you o—“

“We should head inside,” interjects Hijikata. Without hearing a response from Gintoki, Hijikata starts to walk toward the apartment complex. As he attempts to unlock the entrance, Hijikata feels a heavy weight jump onto his back and muscular arms wrapping around his neck. Dropping the keys on the floor, Hijikata instinctively wraps his arms around to hold the male laying on his back.

“Oi, what the fuck do you think you’re doing, you stupid perm head?!” Hijikata grunts out, trying to keep his hold on the male. 

“What’s your problem? Why are you acting so serious all of a sudden?” Gintoki questions, hooking his chin right on Hijikata’s clavicle. Hijikata stays silent. 

Gintoki groans. “Did you finally turn into a tsundere, Oogushi-kun? It’s not a good look for you,” he jeers as he holds tighter onto Hijikata’s body.

“I didn’t want you to hurt anymore,” Hijikata whispers.

The air stills. 

Gintoki slides off Hijikata’s back as both the men release their grips. It’s quiet - Hijikata is too afraid of turning around to meet Gintoki’s gaze. He feels like utter shit. 

Suddenly, Hijikata feels a large hand smack against the backside of his head. It sends his body flying slightly forward. As Hijikata recovers and whips his head around to give the man a yelling of a lifetime, Hijikata falters upon seeing a small smile on their face. 

“We’re even now.” 

Gintoki lightly pats Hijikata’s back as he bends downwards to pick up the fallen keys. “It was just a playful kick, Oogushi-kun. I’m a grown boy and I’ve taken much worse. You’re not gonna hurt me, idiot.”

He tosses the keys to Hijikata and the stunned male scrambles to catch them. 

“Now hurry up and open the door, Gin-san is freezing out here.” 

To emphasize his point, Gintoki obnoxiously sneezes in Hijikata’s direction without bothering to cover his mouth.

Hijikata jumps back against the door. “You’re so disgusting. What if you get me sick!?” He snaps at the laughing male. 

“Then open the door already before I do it again. I can feel one coming and it feels snotty.”

Hijikata feels a vein pop out on his forehead. Muttering under his breath, he shoves the key into the keyhole and turns it. He hears a small clicking noise. As he slowly opens the apartment complex’s front door, Gintoki pushes past him, nearly knocking Hijikata over as he runs inside. 

“ _Ahh,_ so warm.”

Catching himself from falling, Hijikata glares up at the male who is currently rubbing the side of his arms feverishly. He must’ve been really cold.

…Whatever.

Hijikata’s expression relaxes as he walks up to the shivering male. Placing a hand on the other’s back, Hijikata tells Gintoki, “Oi, let’s go already. You can get warmed up later.” He walks towards the elevator to press the elevator button.

When Gintoki catches up to Hijikata, an embarrassed smile is plastered on his face.

“ _Fufufu_ , I didn’t know this cherry boy had such naughty thoughts,” snickers Gintoki behind his raised hand, eyebrows raised and flashing Hijikata a knowing look.

Hijikata feels a blush creep onto his cheeks.

“STUPID I didn’t mean—“

The elevator dings and its doors open up. Gintoki struts inside and turns back to Hijikata who hasn’t moved. 

“What are you waiting for? It’s time to get warm, Oogushi-kun.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“You love me.”

* * *

Their long night finally comes to an end as the two stand in front of the apartment doors. As Gintoki picks his nose, he turns to Hijikata. “Why are you so serious all the time? Loosen up and have some fun for once in your boring life, V-bangs,” exclaims Gintoki, flicking a booger to the side. “I know, let’s go get our ears pierced and matching tattoos!”

Hijikata deadpans at the suggestion. What is this idiot on about?

“Are you joking? Wait, why’d I even ask you that, of course you’re not,” Hijikata grumbles, mostly to himself. Raising his voice, Hijikata looks at the other male. “I’m not getting my ears pierced, and I’m especially not getting matching tattoos with you. We’re not teenagers, in case you forgot,” scoffs HIjikata.

“You’ve never got tattoos with your friends before?” Gintoki sounds shocked. 

Hijikata’s jaw hits the floor. “ _YOU HAVE?_ ” 

“Of course. Gin-san is hip and cool.”

“You got it while you were drunk, didn’t you.”

“Little details like that don’t matter, Oogushi-kun. It’s about the moment. This would be an amazing way to commemorate the start of our special friendship! Who would have thought that a dirty old pervert would bring us closer than ever?”

The perm head in front of him surprises Hijikata every time he opens his dumb mouth. 

“Moron, who said I wanted to be friends with you?”

Gintoki looks like he’s in thought. After a few seconds, he turns back to Hijikata with a flirty smirk on his lips. “Well… we can be something else than friends. If that’s what you want.”

Hijikata chokes. The sound of Gintoki’s deep laughter drowns out Hijikata’s coughing as he doubles over. 

“I’m joking, don’t worry. I wish you could have seen the look on your face though,” Gintoki chuckles, trying to suppress his laughter as Hijikata glares at him.

“Fuck off. I hope this is the last time I ever have to talk to you.” That was a definite lie but Gintoki doesn’t need to know that.

“How could you say that Oogushi-kun? Are you trying to hurt Gin-san’s feelings?”

“Like I care.”

“Oh yeah, really? What did you say downstairs again, I can’t remember.”

Just before Hijikata can yell at Gintoki, the front door to Takasugi’s apartment opens. Their heads whip towards the noise to see Takasugi who had poked his head out and was currently staring at the two men who were only standing a few feet away from one another. It looks like Takasugi had just woken up with him fronting messy bed hair and his usual eyepatch is missing. 

“You guys are loud, I can hear you through the wall.”

His eyes shift to Gintoki, looking him up and down with an indescribable expression. Then he directs his attention to Hijikata. Takasugi and Hijikata lock gazes for an abrupt moment. Hijikata’s palms are lined with sweat - it feels like he was just caught in the act. 

Takasugi looks at Gintoki once more.

“What are you waiting for Paako? Let’s go.”

Without waiting for a response, Takasugi walks back inside his apartment. The door is left open. 

There’s a brief moment of silence before Gintoki loudly sighs. “What an asshole,” he mumbles.

As Gintoki walks towards Takasugi’s apartment, he turns once more to look at the other male. 

“See you around, _Hijikata_.”

He shuts the apartment door, leaving Hijikata standing alone in the hallway.

That was the first time the other had said Hijikata’s name.

… 

“The idiot still has my scarf.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its been almost a month since the last update ive been busy with school and genshin impact hahadshadkad o(--(  
> i wrote these two smut scenes for hijikata's dreams but i realized it didnt rly fit in with the narrative so now im very sad ;-; maybe i can include it in future chapters haha ;u;  
> i hope u guys realize how badly i wanted to squeeze in catboy gintoki into this fic SOMEHOW ahdsdkskf always pushing the cattoki agenda<3
> 
> haha i wonder whats gonna happen next chapter o(--( also sorry if the characters are so flip floppy in this chap i was rly struggling writing this ;-;  
> i cant think of anything else to say hh comments n kudos are always welcomed !! <33


End file.
